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The
First Battle of Bull Run
by Josh
The Battle of Bull Run was one of the most famous battles of the Civil War.
The Battle of Bull Run (or Battle of Manassas) was one of the first major battles of the Civil War. On July 16th 1861 the Union army (north) led by General McDowell began to move in on the Confederates (south) led by General Beauregard at Manassas. At the same time, General Robert Paterson‘s Union force at Martinsburg was supposed to stop the other Confederate unit under General Johnston at Winchester from joining, but wasn’t successful, and by July 20th some of Johnston’s men had already reached Manassas. McDowell attacked Beauregard’s army near the stone bridge over Bull Run and pushed them back to the Henry House Hill. The Confederates with General Jackson standing like a “stone wall” stopped the Union from going any farther, and the arrival of General Smith’s brigade changed the outcome of the battle. The Union soldiers ran away on the Virginian roads full of scared civilians. The retreat was a defeat for the Union soldiers. The Confederate army and the south rejoiced over the victory and the Union prepared for the next battle.