Signal Hill

Signal Hill. “Look out for your left, you are turned”. This elevation behind the Confederate right flank at Manassas in July 1861 was one of four Confederate signal stations established by Capt. Edward Porter Alexander; Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard’s signal officer. Because the hilltop was devoid of trees, it offered excellent sight lines to the north and west without building a signal tower. As Union Gen. Irvin McDowell’s army approached, the Centreville station was abandoned, but Alexander’s signalmen remained at the other three stations and “wig-wagged” messages from one end of Beauregard’s Bull Run line to the other. , On the morning of July 21, 1861, Alexander was posted here. A Union diversionary attack at the Stone Bridge seven miles northwest required him to keep watch on the Van Pelt signal station. Alexander later wrote that when he looked to the left of that station at about 8:45 A.M., “my eye was caught by a glitter in this narrow band of green. I recognized it at once as the reflection of the morning sun from a brass field-piece. Closer scrutiny soon revealed the glittering of bayonets and musket barrels.” Alexander had spotted a large Union column marching toward Sudley Springs to turn the Confederate left flank. He immediately signaled the Van Pelt station to warn Col. Nathan G. Evans, in command at the Stone Bridge, “Look out for your left, you are turned.” It was the first time in history that the wigwag system had been used in combat. Alexander’s timely warning enabled Evans to intercept the Union Ranking column and buy time for Confederate reinforcements, contributing significantly to the Confederate victory at First Manassas.