Sudley Ford was a crossing of Bull Run located about 200 yards above the Sudley Springs Ford, which was the ford across Catharpin Run. Historians have often confused the two. The location of Sudley Ford is located on private property. Sudley Ford was six miles from Manassas Junction and was connected by a relatively straight Sudley Road (Rt. 234) that ran between the two. The Warrenton Turnpike (Rt. 29), which ran east and west, bisected the Sudley Road about half-way between Sudley and Manassas. After an arduous march of nearly seven hours, the Union divisions of Hunter and Heintzelman (approx. 13,000) led by the 800 strong 2nd Rhode Island Infantry along with their Governor William Sprague, finally reached the ford between 9:30 and 11:00 AM on July 21st. Because Hunter’s engineer Capt. Daniel Woodbury had made a cautious decision to make a wide sweep away from Bull Run before crossing at Sudley Ford, at least an extra hour had been added to the march. Armed with old fashioned flintlocks altered to percussion, most of the exhausted Rhode Islanders, as well as most of the other Federal soldiers, collapsed around the banks of the ford after rushing into the stream for a drink. The temperature was in the high 80s to low 90s and the day was dry and dusty. The officers tried to get the men back into the ranks, but in vain. After about half an hour, the 2nd Rhode Island took up the march as the vanguard for the Union flanking column.
