History at Delaplane

This is the Civil War Trails sign at Delaplane, Virginia. Excerpt:

Piedmont Station
By Train to Manassas - First Manassas Campaign

Here at Piedmont Station (now Delaplane) trains were used for the first time in history to move troops to impending battle.

On July 19, 1861, the fields surrounding this stop on the Manassas Gap Railroad -- which appeared then almost exactly as they do today -- were filled with thousands of volunteer soldiers, members of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate Army of the Shenandoah. A single steam locomotive was on hand to move the army to Manassas Junction, then threatened with Federal attack. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson's 1st Brigade, ordered here from their bivouac in the meadows just south of Paris, were loaded onto freight and cattle cars for the first transport, which took eight hours to cover the 30 miles to Manassas.

For the older sign at Delaplane, click here.