I used to live down the street from the Chantilly battlefield in, of course, Chantilly, Virginia. Not much is known by the public about the Chantilly battle, and its usually dismissed as sort of an ancillary to the main battle of Second Manassas. Yet, it was strategically vital. As Union troops were retreating down what is now Rte. 29 from Manassas back to DC, Gen. Lee sent Jacksons corp north and then east to cut them off. That would have put Jackson on their east and Longstreet to their west, trapping them. But the Union sent troops up Willow Springs road to find out about reports of cavalry skirmishing at about the corner of Rte. 50 and Stringfellow Rd. in Chantilly, and that probe ran into Jacksons men just on what is now the west side of Fair Oaks Mall. The battle was brutal, most hand to hand combat because it was fought mostly in what was described as one of the worst thunderstorms anyone had ever seen. At the end of the battle, two important Union generals lie dead, Kearney and Isaac Stevens, and about 1500 other men were casualties. But the Union move countered Lees plan and the Union army escaped back to DC. Lee then turned north and crossed into Maryland, heading for Antietam. If Lee had succeeded in trapping the Federals, the war might have been over.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 17:47:23 +0000
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