Can somebody tell about the history of First Battle of Bull Run ?

Answer 1

The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the First Battle of Manassas, took place on July 21, 1861, and was the first major land battle of the American Civil War. Green Union Army troops under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell advanced against the Confederate Army under Brig. Gens. Joseph E. Johnston and P.G.T. Beauregard at Manassas, Virginia, and despite early successes, were routed and forced to retreat back to Washington, D.C.


Background
Prior to the battle, Irvin McDowell was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to command of the Army of Northeastern Virginia. Once in this capacity, McDowell was harassed by impatient politicians and citizens in Washington, who wished to see a quick battlefield victory over the Confederate Army in northern Virginia. McDowell, however, was concerned about the untried nature of his army. He was reassured by Lincoln, who responded, "You are green, it is true, but they are green also; you are all green alike." Against his better judgment, McDowell commenced campaigning. On July 16, 1861, the general departed Washington with the largest field army yet gathered on the North American continent.

A force of 21,000 Confederates under Beauregard was encamped near Manassas Junction, approximately 25 miles from the United States capital. McDowell planned to swoop down upon this numerically inferior enemy army, while Union Major General Robert Patterson's 18,000 men engaged Johnston's 11,000 men in the Shenandoah Valley, preventing them from reinforcing Beauregard.

After two days of marching in the sweltering heat, the Union army was allowed to rest. In the meantime, McDowell searched for a way to outflank Beauregard, who had now drawn up his lines along Bull Run. On July 18, The Union commander sent a division under Brigadier General Daniel Tyler to pass on the Confederate right (southeast) flank. Unfortunately, Tyler was drawn into battle at Blackburn's Ford over Bull Run and made no headway. Now becoming more frustrated, McDowell resolved to attack the Confederate left (northwest) flank instead. He planned to leave one division at the Stone Bridge on the Warrenton Turnpike and send two divisions over Sudley Springs Ford. From here, these divisions could march into the Confederate rear. Though he had arrived at a sound plan, McDowell had delayed long enough that Johnston's Valley force was able to board trains at Piedmont Station and rush to Manassas Junction to reinforce Beauregard's men.

On July 19 and July 20, significant reinforcements bolstered the Confederate lines near Bull Run. However, it was not enough to hold back the flood of Union soldiers. General McDowell was getting contradictory information from his intelligence agents, and so he called for the balloon Enterprise that was being demonstrated by Prof. Thaddeus S. C. Lowe in Washington to serve as aerial surveillance.


Battle

Map of the events of the battleOn the morning of July 21, divisions under David Hunter and Samuel P. Heintzelman crossed Sudley Springs and struck the Confederate left. All that stood in the path of the 6,000 Union soldiers were Confederate Colonel Nathan Evans and his reduced brigade of 900 men.

Evans soon received reinforcement from two other brigades under Barnard Bee and Francis S. Bartow, but the Confederate line slowly crumbled, then broke completely. In a full run from their Matthews Hill position, the remainder of Evans's, Bee's, and Bartow's commands ran into a solid line of reinforcement on Henry House Hill. This was Thomas J. Jackson's Virginia brigade. "The Enemy are beating us back," Bee is reported to have told Jackson, who replied, "Then Sir, we shall give them the bayonet!" Inspired by the cool-headed Jackson, Bee returned to his men and shouted, "There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians! " The immortal "Stonewall" Jackson had been born.

Scattered units began to rally around the Virginia brigade, and the fighting continued as the Union tide rolled onward, up the face of Henry House Hill. As soon as the troops crested the hill, they were face to face with the muskets of Jackson's men and they took a full volley with devasting effect. They broke, and began to fall back in what was called the "Great Skedaddle". Eventually, more fresh Confederate brigades entered the fray and turned the tide of battle completely in favor of Beauregard's army. McDowell's flanking column was blunted, then crumbled and broke. In the disorder that followed, hundreds of Union troops were scooped up as prisoners. A Union wagon overturned on a bridge spanning Bull Run and incited panic in McDowell's force. Beauregard and Johnston decided not to press their advantage, since their combined army had been left highly disorganized as well, even in victory.

The wealthy elite of nearby Washington, expecting an easy Union victory, had come to picnic and watch the battle. When the Union army was driven back in a running disorder, the roads back to Washington were blocked by panicked civilians attempting to flee in their carriages. Further confusion ensued when an artillery shell fell on a carriage, blocking the main road north.

Union forces and civilian alike feared that Confederate forces would now advance on Washington D.C. with very little standing in their way. On July 24, Prof. Lowe ascended in Enterprise to observe the Confederates moving in and about Manassas Junction and Fairfax and ascertained that there was no evidence of massing Rebel forces, but was forced to land in enemy territory. It was overnight before he was rescued and could report to headquarters. He reported that his observations "restored confidence" to the Union commanders.

Answer 2

The first major battle of the Civil War was fought in Virginia, near the Manassas, Virginia railway junction, after which the battle is called (or First Bull Run, named after the flowing stream on the battlefield, if of the Union persuasion). The armies in this first battle were not very large by later Civil War standards. The Federal forces under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell were organized into four divisions (five, if one includes Runyan's division), of about 30,000 men. These divisions were commanded by Tyler, Hunter, Heintzelman, (Runyan), and Miles. The Confederate command structure was somewhat more unwieldy, including two "armies", with no division structure and thirteen independent brigades under Bonham, Ewell, Jones, Longstreet, Cocke, Early, Holmes, Kershaw, Evans, Jackson, Bartow, Bee, Smith, and a cavalry brigade under Stuart. The Confederate Army of the Potomac was under the command of Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and the Army of the Shenandoah was commanded by Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston. These two forces would equal McDowell's strength.
Interestingly enough, each commander had planned to initiate an attack on the other side with a feint attack on the enemy's right flank and a massed attack on the opposite flank. Had this been done simultaneously, and both been successful in their purpose, the two armies would have simply pivoted around each other and ended up in each other's rear, able to march unopposed to Washington or Richmond, as the case may be. As it turned out, the general least successful in initiating this movement was the winner.
McDowell had planned to use Tyler's division as the diversionary attack at the Stone Bridge, while Davies' brigade did the same at Blackburn's Ford. At the same time, Hunter's and Heintzelman's divisions would cross Bull Run at Sudley Springs and attack from the north.
McDowell's green troops involved in the flanking column, reached their jumping off positions two and a half hours behind schedule. Tyler's and Davies' attacks at the Stone Bridge and Blackburn's Ford were already well under way, and the Confederate high command was beginning to sense a ruse because the Union attacks were not pressed very hard. When Beauregard was notified that Federal troops were massing on his left flank, he realized that this must be the main attack so began to shift his own troop dispositions.
The Federals had about 18,000 men in the main attack column and it was only thanks to the quick reactions of Colonel "Shank" Evans and his small brigade that Beauregard did not suffer a major disaster. He quickly moved his small force to Matthew's Hill to block the Federal move. Sounds of the fighting drew other brigade commanders to Evans' aid on their own initiative. Brigadier General Barnard Bee and Colonel Bartow joined Evans' defensive line and deployed their men to his right to extend and strengthen it.
The Confederate position was still badly outnumbered however, and eventually the weight of those numbers began to be felt. With Tyler's division threatening the right flank and rear of the Confederate position after having forced a crossing at the Stone Bridge, and their left flank now being overlapped by Federal reinforcements, the three Confederate brigades broke to the rear, heading toward the cleared plateau of the Henry House Hill. Unfortunately for the Federals, they were slow to follow-up their success and allowed the Southern brigade commanders to rally the remnants of their units behind Jackson's brigade which had just arrived and formed a line of battle on the reverse slope of Henry House Hill.
In the meantime, McDowell ordered two artillery batteries to advance to silence the defensive fire. Rickett's Battery and Griffin's Battery advanced to well within musket range of the Confederate positions near the crest of the hill. These batteries were counterattacked by Confederate infantry and overrun and although it is still somewhat an open question, most historians give credit to the 33rd Virginia Infantry, although the 6th North Carolina State Troops, and elements of the 2nd Mississippi Infantry also claim credit for silencing Ricketts. This counterattack also routed the infantry supports to the guns -- a battalion of U. S. Marines and the 11th New York Infantry, the famed Fire Zouaves. The loss of the guns became a focal point for see-saw attacks and counterattacks by each side, with the possession of the guns changing hands several times.
Finally having accumulated enough units to not only stabilize the Confederate lines, but also overlap the right flank of the Federal lines, the order was given for a general advance by Beauregard. This attack caved-in the Federal right and what began as a fairly orderly retreat turned into a disorganized rout. The equally tired and inexperienced Confederates however, were in no shape to conduct an effective pursuit, so the battle ended. The Federals lost about 3,000 casualties (killed, wounded, and captured or missing), and the Confederates suffered about 2,000.

Answer 3

no longer a lot notwithstanding the Confederates routed the Union troops so that they fled again in the direction of D.C. previous each of the civilians who got here out for a picnic and to computer screen the warfare. also, The conflict Hymn of the Republic has its origins there. a lady changed into inspired to position in writing a poem even as she noted the military marching by using her abode and she or he bought it to the newspaper.