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In the morning hours of July 21, 1861, the carriages began to arrive in Centreville, Virginia.
Once a bustling center of trade (before newer roads and railroads diverted the traffic it depended on), it was then home to little more than 100 people.
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Whether there was anyone left in the village who owned a carriage is a question for a better historian than I, but you can be almost certain that no one owned any form of transportation as ornately decorated and carved as the beautifully hewn landaus and barouches that were filtering into the town, one by one.
Nattily attired men and women emerged in due time from the interiors of their luxurious conveyances, suits and mustaches neatly brushed, summer dresses pressed and long hair ringleted, with an air of curiosity one might rightly confuse with that of those attending a sporting event.
Washington, D.C.’s wealthy and elite were arriving in force, but to what end?
I imagine word migrated rather quickly around the village. Even in its heyday as a regional thoroughfare, this would have been more than a minor sensation. Senators, and blue-bloods, and servants were milling about the street making inquiries and running errands, and the inquiries were of the strangest sort.
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Where might one best view the battle from this location?
The battle? Why would anyone want to watch a battle? A picnic?!
Yes, a picnic. As servants (and those who did not have/bring servants) began to unpack the still-accumulating coaches and buggies, the intent became crystal clear. It was no jest.
Baskets, and bags, and a variety of caddies, canteens, and casks were lowered down or lifted out of traveling storage to be toted off to a predetermined place of best possible spectation.
You see, Centreville had been built on a plateau. And while it had largely been chosen by both Native Americans and English settlers for the various creeks and water sources that flow into Bull Run, and eventually, the Occoquan River — the vista is also outstanding, looking out over what are now multiple national parks, with the Bull Run Mountains in clear view, and the Blue Ridge Mountains just beyond…
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Publish date : 2026-06-05 03:39:00
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