NP, RSTD 8/14B/1861

From the Raleigh Standard
 
August 14, 1861
 
Manassa, Manasseh, or Manassas
   The Manassas Gap Railroad forms a junction with the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, about twenty-seven miles this side of Alexandria. This junction was formerly called Tudor Hall, but this has been gradually substituted by "Manassas Junction," and this again by simply "Manassa" or "Manassas." As to the correct spelling, the Richmond Enquirer says Manassas and Manassa are both corruptions. The name is derived from a pass in the mountains, through which the road, when completed, was designed to run. This pass was named after a Jew, called "Old Manasseh," who kept a house of entertainment there. The real name, therefore, is a scriptural one, and is, properly, Manasseh; but the Railroad has gone into the legislation of the State as "Manassas Gap," and our Generals, in their official papers, have called it "Manassas" -- and so "Manassas" it must be.

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