Battle of Bull Run

Battle of Bull Run, also called the Battle of Manassas, two battles of the American Civil War fought in Virginia near Bull Run, a small stream about 48 km (about 30 mi) southwest of Washington, D.C.

The First Battle of Bull Run, the earliest important engagement of the war, was fought on July 21, 1861, between a Union army of about 30,000 under the command of General Irvin McDowell and a Confederate army of about 22,000 commanded by General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard. Both sides were ill-trained for war, but a Union order to blockade the South and public pressure in the North led to a march, accompanied by many spectators, toward the Confederate capital at Richmond. At Bull Run the Union troops encountered the Confederate forces coming from their base at Manassas, about 4.8 km (about 3 mi) south of the stream. The 5-hour battle began with a Union assault resulting in a Confederate retreat to Henry House Hill. There, a part of a brigade commanded by General Thomas Jonathan Jackson held back the Union troops until 9000 reinforcements under General Joseph Eggleston Johnston arrived. The Union general Robert Patterson had earlier failed to retain Johnston, and the combined Confederate force easily routed the Union army. The stubbornness of his defense earned for Jackson the nickname Stonewall. Although the flight of the Union army did not end until the troops reached Washington, the Confederate forces were too disorganized to pursue. The Union army lost about 2900 men killed, wounded, captured, or missing; the Confederates, about 2000. The Confederate victory encouraged the South and spurred the North to greater effort. The battle, demonstrating as it did the effectiveness of the Confederate army, changed the status of the conflict from a rebellion to a civil war.

The Second Battle of Bull Run was fought on two days, August 29 and 30, 1862, near Bull Run. After failing to capture Richmond during the Peninsular Campaign, the North planned to unite the armies of General George Brinton McClellan and General John Pope for an assault on the city. By August 29, Pope, with about 35,000 men, had been driven north by a Confederate army of some 50,000 under General Robert E. Lee. Pope was facing Lee, whose forces were to the south, when Stonewall Jackson, with 23,000 troops, came eastward through Thoroughfare Gap and approached Pope's forces from the rear. The Union troops turned and, with Bull Run on their rear, faced Jackson's army. Jackson was speedily reinforced by Lee's troops and by a corps under General James Longstreet. Although the first day of the battle was inconclusive, on the second day Longstreet drove the Union army from the field. Pope retreated northward, was finally joined by McClellan, and then entered Washington. The Union loss was about 14,500; that of the Confederates about 9200. Lee, maintaining his offensive, then invaded Maryland. This ended with the Battle of Antietam. The site of both Bull Run battles is preserved in the Manassas National Battlefield Park.