Liberia House

Federal-style plantation house visited by Lincoln during the Civil War

Liberia is a Federal-style plantation house built around 1825, sitting on a modest rise north of Old Town. During the Civil War, the house served as headquarters for several Union generals, and Lincoln himself visited here in 1862 following the second battle. The property is owned by the City of Manassas and managed as a historic site.

The house exterior and grounds are accessible; check with the city for interior tour schedules. It is a short drive from the Old Town district and easy to combine with a visit to the battlefield. The architecture itself is modest but evocative — a typical Virginia farmhouse that found itself at the center of a war.

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A story
Abraham Lincoln visited Liberia House in the aftermath of the Second Battle of Manassas in September 1862 to confer with his generals about the Union's disastrous performance. General John Pope had just been relieved of command after leading the Army of Virginia into a crushing defeat on these same fields. Lincoln reportedly sat in the parlor absorbing news that the Confederacy was moving north toward Maryland — the Antietam campaign was days away.