Civil War Battle Fields

Two weekends ago, it was Zack's turn to choose what we'd do for our weekend outing, and he chose a place he's been hoping to visit pretty much since we got to DC: Manassas Battlefield. Two Civil War battles were actually fought there, and now it's a national park.

It was a beautiful day, so we set off in the early afternoon with the hope of getting Ela a nap in the car. Traffic was pretty terrible, but we found it easily enough. We arrived just in time to catch a guided tour of the fields, so we split up for a bit. Zack listened to the guide, while Ela and I did our own tour. First, we checked out the super tall grass behind the house where a family actually lived during the first battle.





Then we discovered a statue of Stonewall Jackson (so nicknamed during the first battle), which Ela loved because it had a horse. Horses are her new obsession. She spent most of Zack's tour trying to figure out how to get up to this one.



When Zack's tour was over, he joined us, and we walked a little further up the field to check out some artillery. As we walked, Zack gave us the historical background he'd gathered from the tour.




Further along the trail, we found the remains of a house that, at the time of the battles, had belonged to an African American family. There's not much left to it now, but Ela enjoyed climbing the walls.

After that, we decided it was time to brave the traffic to get back into town. It was a great trip, though. We got lots of fresh air, a little history lesson, and a good time was had by all.