For God, Family and Republic

Click the map graphic for an enlarged image.

The first battle of Manassas (or first battle of Bull of Run as northerners dub it) was the first major engagement of the War Between the States. Confederate troops had already arrived from as faraway as the Carolinas, Georgia, and even Texas. This multistate army was there to aid their Virginia brethren in the Commonwealth with the intent of holding northern Virginia and taking the fight to the invading enemy. The general staff of Virginians had begun to augment their troops, and dispatched new conscripts to northern Virginia. On July 16, 1861, the Union army under Gen. Irvin McDowell began to move on the undermanned Confederate position held by Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard at Manassas Junction, Virginia. Beauregard himself was already waiting for belated reinforcements. Gen. Jackson had led the 1st Virginia on a forced march from Winchester, Virginia. As Dabney notes, Jackson's command "reached the Junction at dusk on Friday evening, and were marched, hungry, weary, and study, to the pince-coppices near Mitchell's Ford, where they spent Staurday in refreshing themselves for the coming conflict" (Dabney, p. 213).



The Confederate Order of Battle
In his book based on his memoirs, Confederate General James Longstreet wrote:

General Johnston came in from the Shenandoah Valley on the 20th with the brigades of Bee, Bartow, and Jackson. The brigades were assigned by Beauregard, the former two in reserve near the right of Blackburn's Ford, the latter near its left.

Beauregard's order for battle, approved by General Johnston, was issued at five A.M. on the 21 st,—the brigades at Union Mills Ford to cross and march by the road leading towards Centreville, and in rear of the Federal reserve at that point; the brigades at McLean's Ford to follow the move of those on their right, and march on a converging road towards Centreville; those at and near Blackburn's to march in co-operative action with the brigades on the right; the reserve brigades and troops at Mitchell's Ford to be used as emergency called, but in the absence of special orders to seek the most active point of battle.

This order was only preliminary, coupled with the condition that the troops were to be held ready to move, but to wait for the special order for action. The brigade at Blackburn's Ford had been reinforced by the Fifth North Carolina and Twenty-fourth Virginia Regiments, under Lieutenant-Colonel Jones and Colonel Kemper. I crossed the Run under the five o'clock order, adjusted the regiments to position for favorable action, and gave instructions for their movements on the opening of the battle.
—Longstreet, James. From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America (Old Saybrook, CT: Konnecky & Konnecky) p. 218

Now, one should note this order was preliminary. The brigade at Blackburn's Ford had been reinforced.

The Confederates were poised for battle that weekend, though Beauregard was planning on making an advance on Centreville. Stonewall Jackson's illustrious Chaplain Robert Louis Dabney described the morning of the battle, which was on the Sabbath day, July 21, 1861:

The morning of July 21st dawned with all the beauty and softness befitting a summer Sabbath-day, and the birds greeted the rising sun with as joyous a matin hymn as though the lovely quiet had been destined for nought but the worship of the Prince of peace. But the invaders had consecreted it, with an impiety to their malice... The sun had not begun to exhale the dew, when along the Warrenton turnpike, every pleasing sound was hushed into terror by the rumbling wheels of a great park of artillery, and the hoarse oath of the officers hurrying it towards the extreme left of the Confederates. Columns of dust, rising into the quiet air in several directions, disclosed the movements of heavy masses of infantry.
—Dabney, Robert Louis. Life and Campaigns of Stonewall Jackson (Harrisonburg, PA: Sprinkle Publications, 1983) p. 214

The Confederates, under the auspices of Colonels Terry and Lubbock, Texans, on the brigade staff, signaled a reconaissance probe which revealed the march of Union columns toward the Conferate Left. Their report quickly reached hearquarters. "Colonel Evans, with a weak brigade of 1100 men, held the Confederate left, and watched the Stone Bridge" (Dabney, p. 215). Thereafter, McDowell's men moved toward the Stone Bridge with Tyler's division. Plumes of dust rising in the air revealed the Union march coming from the woods. McDowell's vast column crossed at Sudley's Ford around nine o'clock, engaging Nathan Evans men shortly before ten o'clock. Thereafter skirmishers began engaging one another. McDowell's troops, chiefly Hunter's division sparred with Colonel Nathan Evan's men. All that stood in the path of 6,000 Union troops on the road from Sudley Springs was Evan's reduced brigade of 1,000 men. As Longstreet notes, "Evan's infantry and artillery met the advance, and after a severe fight drove it back to the line of the woodland, when Burnside, reinforced by his other three regiments, with them advanced eight guns. The attack was much more formidable, and pressed an hour or more before our forces retired to the woodland" (Longstreet, p. 46). Beauregard's order of battle didn't seem like it was going according to plan and he quickly reconsidered his planned advance on Centreville. He improvised, and reinforcement from two other brigades under Barnard Bee and Francis S. Bartow were quickly called up. Jackson's Virginia Brigade arrived from the rear in the reserves.

[Jackson] hastened towards it, sending forward a messenger to General Bee, who had already reenforced Evans, to encourage him with the tidings, that he was coming to his support with all his force. It was indeed, in good time. For two hours, these two officers, with five regiments and six guns, had brested the [Union] advance, often nearly surrounded, but stubbornly fighting as they retired, inflicting and receiving heavy losses, until their commands were disheartened and almost broken. As Jackson advanced to their assistance, he met the fragments of Bee's regiment sullenly retiring, while the heavy lines of the [Union] were surging forward like mighty warves. [Jackson] proposed to that general to form a new line of battle, assuming the center for himself, while Bee ralied his men in the rear, and then resumed his place upon his right. The ground which Jackson selected for standing at bay, was the crest of an elevated ridge running at right angles to Bull Run, between Young's Branch and another rivulet to the eastward, which flowed by parallel course into the former stream. The northern end of this ridge overlooked the Stone Bridge... its top and western slopes were cleared of timber, and swept down in open fields to a valley, which divided Jackson at the moment from the advancing enemy; but the reverse side of the hill, towards the Confederate rear, was clothed with a tangled thicket of pines, impentrable save by two pathways, to artillery or calvary.
—Dabney, Robert Louis. Life and Campaigns of Stonewall Jackson (Harrisonburg, PA: Sprinkle Publications, 1983) p. 218

Gradually, the thin gray line of Barstow and Bee collapsed and the Confederate divisions fled in disorder toward Henry Hill. They fled in full run from their position on Matthews Hill, and the shattered rabble of brigades fled to the rear to rally around the officers. There was Thomas J. Jackson's 1st 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. Bee was mortally wounded shortly thereafter, as was Barstow. The Union tide reached a crescendo as the momentum was in their favor. They pressed onward, up the face of Henry House Hill. As soon as the Union 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. Jackson had instructed his first line of men to lay down in the prone positions ready to fire, and the second line was ordered to knell. This kept his casualties down at the onset of the engagement. The Union troops were hit hard and began to flee, and the Confederates pressed their advantage and preapred an advance. Generals Johnston and Beauregard then arrived on Henry Hill where they rallied the shattered brigades of Evans, Bee and Bartow. With fresh reserves entering the battle, the tide would eventually turn in the Confederates favor by mid-to-late afternoon.



Calvary Commander Jeb Stuart's Gambit Turned the Tide
Jeb Stuart was characteristically anxious for battle, and sat in the rear with a dim of the valley as the infantry skirmishers were in pitched. As biographer Burke Davis notes, "Stuart rode restlessly. At each infantry movement he sent courier to commander, advising him that the 1st Calvary was ready to act on flanks, or wherever needed. He got no encouragement until late afternoon" (Burke, p. 62). Eventually, Jackson called for Stuart, and with much anticipation Stuart led the charge. Upon arriving, he could barely make out the uniforms, and saw Red Zouave dress. Stuart's
Black Horse Cavalry were poised for battle and ready to strike hard. As he sought to verify that they were indeed Union troops,

...a breeze fanned out the flag of the strange regiment—the Stars and Stripes. Stuart ordered a charge... The New York Zouaves fired a volley and riderless horses rode off. Then the weight of Stuart's column struck and with clubbed carbines and savers cut the red line to bits. There was a second charge as the Zouaves moved rearward, and the scarlet uniforms scattered rapidly over the field...

Only five hundred riders begun a panic; Stuart had lost nine men and eighteen horses. The troopers had broken to the rear after their charges, but Blackford reformed them in a woods and led them back... Stuart began working with a pair of [artillery] guns borrowed from the infantry. He masked them in pine thickets and opened fire. [Union] soldiers fell in windrows; the enemy retreat became faster and more widespread.
—Davis, Burke. Jeb Stuart: The Last Cavalier (New York, NY: Wing Books, 1957), p. 64.

At the moment of Stuart's trepid daring, Heintzelman ordered up a Minnesota regiment to support the batteries, but they were hit hard by Confederate guns and recoiled along with the Zouaves.

The Aftermath
In the aftermath, the Union soldiers fled, and they outraced the Congressional delegations to get back to the safety Washington. A shelled carriage impeded the march back, as did the throng of civilians who came as observers. The war-worn rabble was fearful of a pursuing army, and Jeb Stuart's calvary gave pursuit for twelve miles but eventually turned around as dusk settled in. By July 22, most of the shattered Union army reached the safety of Washington. Afterwards, the "romance" of war with the idea of the genteel ladies of D.C. picnicing on the hilltops to watch the 'splendid little affair' was gone forever. It became clear to all, and particularly the Lincoln administration that this war was going to be long drawn-out affair. The war was not going to be an uneventful week-long parade of troops to Richmond, punctuated by some minor skirmishes, as many boasted. Initially, a morbid feeling of angst came over the city of Washington, and was felt throughout the north as word spread by newspaper and telegraph. Gradually, the tides of depression in the north cleared, and a resurgence of Unionist sentiment particularly in New England took hold. Volunteers flocked to the Union standard by the thousands.

After the debacle, McDowell was quickly replaced. Union General George McClellan was appointed directly by Lincoln to sit in McDowell's stead. In fact, McClellan assumed the role as general-in-chief of all the Union armies.

Incidentally, the hill held by the Confederates was named after Henry House. It was a two storey, mostly wooden structure, owned by appropriately Mrs. Henry who was regretably mortally wounded by Union shells during the battle.

Casualties

Confederate 2,896 (460 killed, 1,124 wounded, 1,312 captured/missing)

Union 1,982 (387 killed, 1,582 wounded, 13 missing)

Bibliography/Reference:
—Dabney, Robert Louis. Life and Campaigns of Stonewall Jackson (Harrisonburg, PA: Sprinkle Publications, 1983)
—Davis, Burke. Jeb Stuart: The Last Cavalier (New York, NY: Wing Books, 1957)
—Longstreet, James. From Manassas to Appomattox: Memoirs of the Civil War in America (Old Saybrook, CT: Konnecky & Konnecky)

Related Web Sites:
First Bull Run - Answers.com
First Manassas - CWSAC Battlefield Summaries
First Manassas - Confederate Military History
Manassas Battlefield - The Civil War Preservation Trust