American Civil War
The O&A was strategically important during the Civil War (1861–1865) and was arguably the most fought over railroad in Virginia. In connection with the Virginia Central, it was the only rail link that existed between the capitals at Washington, D.C., and Richmond. The importance of the link drew Union Army troops to the 1861 First Battle of Bull Run in an attempt to gain control of Manassas Junction. This important junction traded hands numerous time during the war. Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson took advantage of its importance by attacking it in the Battle of Manassas Station Operations to draw the Union into the 1862 Second Battle of Bull Run. The 1863 Battle of Brandy Station and Second Battle of Rappahannock Station were also fought near the railroad line.
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Famous quotes containing the words civil war, american, civil and/or war:
“... there was the first Balkan war and the second Balkan war and then there was the first world war. It is extraordinary how having done a thing once you have to do it again, there is the pleasure of coincidence and there is the pleasure of repetition, and so there is the second world war, and in between there was the Abyssinian war and the Spanish civil war.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“There is nothing the matter with Americans except their ideals. The real American is all right; it is the ideal American who is all wrong.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“... there was the first Balkan war and the second Balkan war and then there was the first world war. It is extraordinary how having done a thing once you have to do it again, there is the pleasure of coincidence and there is the pleasure of repetition, and so there is the second world war, and in between there was the Abyssinian war and the Spanish civil war.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)
“In war personal revenge maintains its silence.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)