Nokesville in Prince William County, Virginia — The American South (Mid-Atlantic)
REMOVED
SEE LOCATION SECTION
A Narrow Escape
Engagement at Kettle Run
Second Manassas Campaign
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), November 30, 2019
1. A Narrow Escape Marker
Inscription.
A Narrow Escape. Engagement at Kettle Run. In August 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson led his command around Union Gen. John Pope's right flank to cut Federal communication lines and pave the way for the rest of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to follow from the Rappahannock River. At sunset on August 26, Jackson occupied Bristoe Station on the Orange and Alexandria (O&A) Railroad just east of here to intercept and destroy Union supply trains headed to Alexandria. Jackson ordered Gen. Richard S. Ewell to destroy the O&A bridge over Kettle Run to slow Pope's advance from the south., Pope ordered Capt. Harman Bliss and the 72nd New York Infantry (3rd Excelsior) to board a train at Warrenton Junction and head toward Bristoe Station. Bliss stopped the train short of Kettle Run well before dawn the next morning and marched across to see flaming wreckage at the station. He withdrew across the run after some skirmishing and prepared to make a stand to save the bridge. When he saw a large force of Confederate advancing, however, he boarded his men as two shots from an artillery piece ricocheted near the locomotive and ordered the engineer to withdraw. Just then, Capt. G. Campbell Brown, Ewell's stepson and staff member, spurred his horse in pursuit. Brown fired three errant shots as Bliss and his men made good their escape to Warrenton Junction, where they arrived before 5 A.M. Ewell destroyed the bridge, which delayed Union troops and supplies and contributed to Pope's defeat at the Second Battle of Manassas., "I got alongside the Engine and order the Driver to halt, but he only went the faster. I fired at him three shots ... but had the mortification to see him get off unhurt." , , Capt. G. Campbell Brown
In August 1862, Confederate Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson led his command around Union Gen. John Pope's right flank to cut Federal communication lines and pave the way for the rest of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia to follow from the Rappahannock River. At sunset on August 26, Jackson occupied Bristoe Station on the Orange & Alexandria (O&A) Railroad just east of here to intercept and destroy Union supply trains headed to Alexandria. Jackson ordered Gen. Richard S. Ewell to destroy the O&A bridge over Kettle Run to slow Pope's advance from the south.
Pope ordered Capt. Harman Bliss and the 72nd New York Infantry (3rd Excelsior) to board a train at Warrenton Junction and head toward Bristoe Station. Bliss stopped the train short of Kettle Run well before dawn the next morning and marched across to see flaming wreckage at the station. He withdrew across the run after some skirmishing and prepared to make a stand to save the bridge. When he saw a large force of Confederate advancing, however, he boarded his men as two shots from an artillery piece ricocheted near the locomotive and ordered the engineer to withdraw. Just then, Capt. G. Campbell Brown, Ewell's stepson and staff member, spurred his horse in pursuit. Brown fired three errant shots as Bliss and his men made good their escape to Warrenton Junction,
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where they arrived before 5 A.M. Ewell destroyed the bridge, which delayed Union troops and supplies and contributed to Pope's defeat at the Second Battle of Manassas.
"I got alongside the Engine and order the Driver to haltbut he only went the faster. I fired at him three shots ... but had the mortification to see him get off unhurt."
Capt. G. Campbell Brown
Location. Marker has been permanently removed. It was located near 38° 42.457′ N, 77° 33.893′ W. Marker was in Nokesville, Virginia, in Prince William County. It was at the intersection of Aden Road (Virginia Route 646) and Marsteller Drive, on the right when traveling south on Aden Road. Touch for map. Marker was at or near this postal address: 11336 Aden Road, Nokesville VA 20181, United States of America.
We have been informed that this marker is no longer there and will not be replaced. This page is an archival view of what was.
Regionally, this marker was in the Washington Metropolitan Area, in Northern Virginia, and in the Piedmont. It was also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, and in the Mid-Atlantic. Globally, it was in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it found itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers.
Photographed by Devry Becker Jones (CC0), November 30, 2019
Credits. This page was last revised on May 22, 2026. It was originally submitted on December 1, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. This page has been viewed 747 times since then and 49 times this year. Photos:1, 2. submitted on December 1, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia.
