Thoroughfare Gap

Just west is Thoroughfare Gap, where Union and Confederate armies clashed during the Civil War. In July 1861, Gen. Joseph E. Johnston marched eastward through the gap to join Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard in the First Battle of Manassas. Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson passed by here on 26 Aug. 1862 to attack the Federal supply depot at Manassas Junction. Two days later, Gen. Robert E. Lee and Maj. Gen. James Longstreet surprised and repelled Union cavalry under Col. Sir Percy Wyndham and an infantry division under Brig. Gen. James Ricketts. Ever after, Union troops occupied the gap whenever Lee's army was near.