On The Eve of The 150th:Battle of First Manassas, The Stone House (Second In a Series)

The Matthews House, also known as,The Stone House remains one of only three intact pre-Civil War buildings within Manassas National Battlefield Park. The imposing red sandstone structure dominates the historic crossroads of the Sudley-Manassas Road (modern Route 234) and the Warrenton Turnpike (Route 29). The Stone House was built in the heyday of America’s “Turnpike Era” in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. The Warrenton Turnpike, completed in 1828, represented one of the best hard-surfaced roads of early Virginia, connecting farms from the lower Shenandoah Valley to markets in the east. A turnpike toll gate stood across the road near the Stone House, and weary droves and teamsters could stop at the house for refreshment. 

The Civil War brought devastation to the cluster of families living near the Stone House intersection. Most families suffered, with their crops destroyed, fences burned, or houses damaged. The Matthews at the Stone House found themselves in the thick of the fighting during the first battle. The battle began a third of a mile north of the Stone House where a brigade of Southerners, hurrying from Stone Bridge, met Union attackers advancing south on the Sudley-Manassas Road. From the shelter of the Stone House, retreating Southerners fired on the advancing Yankees until the 27th New York Infantry drove them from this cover, across the Warrenton Turnpike, and up Henry Hill.

Wounded from the fighting sought shelter in the basement of the Stone House. Corporal William H. Merrell of the 27th New York Infantry joined them and observed, “the floor above was also covered with wounded soldiers, whose cries could be distinctly heard.” A makeshift red flag appeared on the building to mark the Stone House as a place of refuge and suffering. After the fighting ended, company A of the 28th Virginia Infantry arrived at the Stone House to find 100 weapons and “a large number of the wounded enemy, some dead, and thirty-six men, who surrendered themselves prisoners.” Among the prisoners were two Union medical officers, a surgeon and an assistant surgeon. Only the assistant surgeon was allowed to remain and care for the many sufferers as best he could. No evidence exists that any surgical operations took place inside the house. Two primary battlefield hospital sites were located nearby at Sudley Church and the Francis Lewis House, “Portici.”

  This house was located right in the middle of the battlefield for First and Second Manassas, and was used as a hospital after both battles.  Privates Eugene P Geer and Charles E. Brehm of the 5th New York Infantry were wounded on August 30, 1862 attempting to halt General James Longstreet’s counterattack. Somehow the two men found their way to one small upstairs room at the Stone House. There, carved in the floorboards in the late summer of 1862, and still visible today, are the initials “E.P. Ge” and “Brehm Aug 30.” Charles Brehm recovered from his wounds and survived the war. Eugene Geer died of his wounds September 30, 1862, he was 17.


The Stone House has weathered some pretty tough times in our American history. But the One true "Stone" or "Rock" has weathered more than that. The book of Acts in God's Holy Word, tells us that Jesus Christ was rejected  by His own people (the Jews), but has become the Chief Cornerstone. The rest of any building cannot stand unless the cornerstone keeps it's firmness. Jesus Christ offers that stability to any and all who ask  to receive it. Unless His Spirit moves within a person, they can by no means come to His saving grace and receive His forgiveness and gain entry into heaven. Look upon the true "Stone" today and call upon Jesus Christ to be saved from your sins.




This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the Chief Cornerstone. Acts 4:11