Manassas Gap Multi Multi-Cache

History

The Manassas Gap Railroad (MGRR) ran from Mount Jackson, Virginia to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad (O&A) at a nearby junction called "Manassas Junction", which later became the city of Manassas, Virginia. The Independent Line of the Mansassas Gap Railroad was planned to run from Gainesville to Alexandria which would have allowed skipping the O&A and its associated costs and fees. Work was begun on the Independent Line in 1854, and the line was graded and abutments were built. However the Civil War and financial difficulties interrupted the project before track was laid. The Manassas Gap Railroad went on to merge with the O&A making the Independant Line redundant and it was never completed.

The Manassas Gap Railroad played an important role in the Civil War. The line was so important to the Confederacy for moving supplies (and specifically, meat) that one historian called the Manassas Gap Railroad "the Meat Line of the Confederacy." The nearby rail junction was in large part responsible for the concentration of troops in the area which led to the First Battle of Manassas in 1861. The railway itself was the first ever to carry troops into battle when the Confederacy moved soldiers from Piedmont Station (present-day Delaplane) to the battlefield near Bull Run. While most of the battle occurred further to the East, the unfinished railroad bed was used by Stonewall Jackson during and after the Second Battle of Manassas in 1862.

Present

Remains of the unfinished Independent Line of the Manassas Gap Railroad can still be found throughout the area.

An interactive map showing where portions of the unfinished Independent Line are still visible is available at: https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&mid=zLWNVehG8IW8.kNNjRkU1O1r8