Funny thing about that. Manassas was not the nearest town then, in fact it wasn't even a town. It was a railway junction with about four houses and a stationhouse. The town of Yorkshire was closer and where the Confederate HQ was. The battlefield itself was on Yorkshire plantation. So why wasn't it the battle of Yorkshire?

If you really want to read about an unlucky person -- someone there at the beginning and end -- look up Wilmer McLean.

In the middle ages, when armies had heralds, the heralds of both sides would get together to agree on a name for the battle.

Dispatch sent from Manassas in Federal Occupied Northern Virginia