Last updated: February 12, 2024
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Information Panel: Confederate Counterattack
Photo: NPS / Claire Hassler
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Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits
Second Battle of Manassas, Day Three, August 30, 1862, 4 p.m.
Generals Robert E. Lee and James Longstreet both concluded the moment had arrived to launch a massive Confederate offensive at Second Manassas. Longstreet's wing of the army- nearly 30,000 troops- stood primed to sweep forward and sever the Union army's line of retreat. Their goal, ironically, was Henry Hill- the key terrain of the First Battle of Manassas.
Only three Federal brigades- fewer than 5,000 mean- stood in their path. Following the bloody repulse at Deep Cut, other Federal troops had shifted north of the turnpike to restore order. This tactile blunder weakened the Union left, against which the Confederates now struck. John Pope's blindness to Longstreet's arrival had led to disaster.