The First battle of Bull Run or First Manassas was the first large land battle fought during the Civil War. It ended up a clear victory for the Confederates.
Summary of the Battle of Bull Run
The conflict took place close to Manassas Junction, Virginia. Around 35,000 Union soldiers marched from Washing D.C. towards Bull Run (a small river) where a 20,000 troop Confederate force was stationed. Outnumbered, the Confederates fought on the defensive throughout the day, but the Union forces didn’t position themselves soon enough. This gave Confederate reinforcements enough time to arrive by train and eventually the Confederates broke the Union right flank, forcing the Union to retreat chaotically back to Washington.
The Battle of Bull Run showed the North that beating the Confederates was not going to be as easy as they had hoped.
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Battle of Bull Run
The Battle of Bull Run, the first major clash in the Civil War, ended in a Confederate victory. It shattered illusions that either side would win quickly or easily. The battle came about when President Lincoln ordered General Irvin McDowell to strike Confederate forces at Manassas Junction, as a step toward taking Richmond. He wanted to move quickly against the enemy, hoping a decisive victory would quell the rebellion. Attacking early in the morning, Union forces first seemed to be winning, but the Confederates checked their advance. Confederate general Thomas Jackson earned the nickname “Stonewall” for his stout defensive stance. Late in the day, the Confederates counterattacked. Weary Union troops retreated, then panicked and fled helter-skelter back to Washington.
Confederate War Strategy
The goal of the Confederates was to win the war by not losing. They needed only to prolong their conflict long enough to convince the Union that victory would be too costly to bear. When opportunities arose, they would augment this strategy with selective offensive strikes. The Confederacy had fewer men, less capital, and less industrial capacity than the North, but its defensive strategy might prevail. And if it could convince France or England to recognize and support its government, chances of victory were even greater.
Union War Strategy
Unlike the Confederates, the Union had to fight and win an offensive war. Lincoln and his advisors developed a multipronged strategy to defeat the South. First, they would negotiate with border states like Maryland to keep them in the Union. Second, they would blockade Southern ports, thus restricting trade with Europe. Third, they would capture strongholds along the Mississippi River, isolating the southwestern states from the eastern ones. Finally, they would advance into the Confederate heartland, especially toward its capital in Richmond, Virginia. Although details of this plan changed during the war, the basic outline remained the key to victory.
Bull Run was the first full-scale battle of the Civil War. The fierce fight there forced both the North and South to face the sobering reality that the war would be long and bloody. Confederate victory. After this stinging defeat for the Union, Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell, the commander of the Union Army of Northeastern Virginia, was relieved and replaced by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who set about reorganizing and training what would become the Army of the Potomac. Although the Civil War officially began when Confederate troops shelled Fort Sumpter on April 12, 1861, the fighting didn’t commence in earnest until the Battle of Bull Run, fought months later in Virginia, just 25 miles from Washington D.C. Under public pressure to end the war in 90 days, President Lincoln had pushed the cautious Gen. McDowell to embark on a campaign to capture the Confederate capital in Richmond, but McDowell’s troops were stopped at Bull Run by Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard’s Rebel forces. The Federals retreated to Washington, where the Lincoln administration retooled for a war that would be waged at great human and financial costHow it ended
In context
On July 16, the Union 90-day volunteer army under McDowell—around 35,000 troops with great enthusiasm and little training—sets out from Washington, D.C. The Confederates under Beauregard, equally green, are positioned behind Bull Run Creek west of Centreville. They aim to block the Union army advance on the Confederate capital by defending the railroad junction at Manassas, just west of the creek. The railroads there connect the strategically important Shenandoah Valley with the Virginia interior. Another Confederate army under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston operates in the Valley and is poised to reinforce Beauregard. McDowell’s plan is to make quick work of Beauregard’s force before Johnston can join him.
On July 17, both sides skirmish along Bull Run at Blackburn’s Ford near the center of Beauregard’s line. The inconclusive fight causes McDowell to revise his attack plan, which requires three more days to implement. Meanwhile, Johnston’s men in the Valley manage to elude the Federals and board trains headed for Bull Run. They arrive at the scene on July 20.
July 21. McDowell’s early morning advance up Bull Run Creek to cross behind Beauregard’s left is hampered by an ambitious plan that requires complex synchronization. Constant delays on the march by the green officers and their troops, as well as effective scouting by the Confederates, give McDowell’s movements away. Later that morning, McDowell’s artillery shells the Confederates across Bull Run near a stone bridge. Two divisions finally cross at Sudley Ford and make their way south behind the Confederate left flank. Beauregard sends three brigades to handle what he thinks is only a distraction, while planning his own flanking movement of the Union left.
The Federals have the upper hand throughout the morning as they drive Confederate forces back from Matthews Hill. The retreating Confederates rally on an open hilltop near the home of the widow Judith Henry, where a brigade of Virginia regiments led by Brig. Gen. Thomas J. Jackson assembles. Jackson forms the scattered Confederate artillery into a formidable line on the eastern slope of the hill with his infantry hidden in the tall grass behind the guns.
As the Confederates reinforce their lines, McDowell pauses his attack. Consolidating his own forces, he moves more divisions across Bull Run and occupies Chinn Ridge, west of Henry Hill. Then McDowell blunders. He places two rifled artillery batteries on the western side of Henry Hill within 300 yards of Jackson’s guns. Union infantry regiments soon become targets of Jackson’s nearby artillery. A contest between infantry and artillery erupts, causing havoc and accidentally killing Judith Henry in the crossfire as she hides in her home.
Jackson’s men hold firm. Sometime during the fighting, Confederate Brig. Gen. Bernard Bee calls encourages his own brigade to rally with Jackson, who, he declares, is standing like a “stone wall.” Although he is killed in action, Bee's statement lives on, and from that moment Jackson is known as “Stonewall.”
Late in the afternoon, Confederate reinforcements under Col. Jubal Early extend the Confederate line and attack the Union right flank on Chinn Ridge. Jackson’s men advance across the top of Henry Hill and push back the Federal infantry, capturing some of the guns. The withdrawal of the Union center quickly spreads to the flanks. Virginia cavalry under Col. James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart arrive on the field and charge into a confused mass of Union regiments. The Federals retreat.
As the battle ends, the Confederates are bolstered by the arrival from Richmond of President Jefferson Davis, but the victorious forces are too disorganized to pursue the Federals. McDowell’s fleeing forces, already hampered by narrow bridges and overturned wagons, are further impeded by hordes of fleeing civilian spectators, who had come down from Washington to enjoy the spectacle. By July 22, the remnants of the shattered Union army reach the safety of Washington, D.C. McDowell is later relieved of his command.
Fairfax County and Prince William County, VA | July 21, 1861
Result: Confederate Victory