Second Friday Lecture: Opening Manassas: The Iron Brigade, Stonewall Jackson, and the Battle on Brawner’s Farm, August 28, 1862

Friday, November 14  |  12pm – 1pm  |  Presented by: Lance Herdegen

In the fading light of August 28, 1862, an untested Union brigade of Wisconsin and Indiana men fought an unexpected 90-minute stand-up clash with the Confederate veterans of Stonewall Jackson on the Virginia farm fields of John Brawner. None of them knew the immediate prelude to the far bloodier Battle of Second Manassas (Bull Run) had begun. Herdgen’s new study utilizes a “fog of war” approach to unfold the battle as the soldiers of the Iron Brigade would have experienced it, and how various officers reacted with only the information they had at the time. His new study uses an original methodology to uncover unexpected insights into the engagement and the leadership decisions of the brigade.