The First Battle of Bull Run was fought on July 21, 1861 near Manassas, Virginia. The Union army, led by Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, was divided into four divisions, while the Confederate army was less structured and consisted of two armies. Both sides planned to attack the other’s left flank, but McDowell’s attack was two and a half hours late. Despite appearing more organized, the Union army was unprepared and had no military training. The Confederates were able to counter McDowell’s main point of attack and eventually force the Union army to retreat, winning the battle.
The First Battle of Bull Run is considered the first major battle of the American Civil War. It occurred on July 21, 1861 and was fought near the railroad junction at Manassas in the state of Virginia. This battle was named by the Union Army after a stream that flowed through the battlefield which was named Bull Run. To the Confederate Army, the First Battle of Bull Run would come to be known as the First Battle of Manassas.
For this first battle, the Union army was led by Brigadier General Irvin McDowell and consisted of approximately 30,000 men. It was divided into four different divisions with each side led by its own commander. The Confederate Army was less structured and consisted of two different armies made up of 13 different brigades. Brigadier General Pierre GT Beauregard led the First Army, the Army of the Potomac, and Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston led the Second Army, the Army of Shenandoah. With these two armies united, however, the north and south sides were nearly equal in number.
Both leaders’ initial plan for this battle was to make the other side believe that a right flank attack was planned. Instead, they were actually planning a major attack on their left. Had this been a successful move by both sides and had occurred at the exact same time, each army would have simply missed the other, thus putting the Union and Confederate armies behind each other.
This, however, did not turn out to be the case at the First Battle of Bull Run: although the Union Army appeared more organized, McDowell actually had no experience planning military strategy. They had also been given troops who had no real military training. The other side was equally unprepared, but time was on the Confederate side since McDowell’s flanking attack began two and a half hours late.
Although Beauregard was no longer prepared for battle than McDowell, reports that more men were attacking his left flank, along with a Union army that was not fully engaged on his right, gave Beauregard an idea of what to do. what McDowell was planning. He began moving his troops to the left to counter McDowell’s main point of attack. This move could have proved disastrous for Beauregard as McDowell had more than 18,000 men converging that way, but one of the smaller brigades under Colonel “Shank” Evans managed to pin them down at a point called Matthew’s Hill.
Even with Evans’ help and assistance from the other brigades who had moved from their positions when they heard the fighting, the Confederates were still vastly outnumbered. Eventually they were forced to withdraw and make their way to Henry House Hill. The ineptitude of the Union troops made them slow to respond to this movement, and by the time they were able to follow, another southern brigade had arrived there to aid in their defense.
Despite the additional Confederate soldiers, McDowell still ordered his two artillery batteries forward. Eventually, Beauregard had enough troops in place to form their own advance, and the Union Army had no choice but to retreat. With McDowell’s troops in retreat and Confederate soldiers unable to pursue, the First Battle of Bull Run was over.
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