After dark had come, the cries of men fighting for their lives burst from the field hospitals, and the glow of distant lanterns floated over the battlefield.

As men picked their way among the bodies, looking for wounded on that night nearly 150 years ago, it must have seemed that only the very fortunate had survived unscathed the carnage of the Second Battle of Bull Run.

On Saturday, people again sought out the fields around Manassas, searching for insight into the bloody Civil War battle and marking its sesquicentennial.

The battle from Aug. 28 to 30, 1862, was spread over the same ground as a major clash a year earlier. The second was much deadlier, although both were triumphs for the Confederacy....