Posted on 07/21/2010 4:34:35 AM PDT by mainepatsfan
Jul 21, 1861:
First Battle of Bull Run (Manassas)
The war erupts on a large scale in the east when Confederate forces under P. T. Beauregard turn back Union General Irvin McDowell's troops along Bull Run in Virginia. The inexperienced soldiers on both sides slugged it out in a chaotic battle that resulted in a humiliating retreat by the Yankees and signaled, for many, the true start of the war.
At the insistence of President Lincoln, McDowell set out to make a quick offensive against Manassas Junction, a key rail center 30 miles from Washington. On July 18, the Yankee advance was halted in a small skirmish at Blackburn's Ford on Bull Run. McDowell paused for three days as he prepared to move around the Rebels. This was a crucial delay, because it allowed forces under Joseph Johnston, guarding the Shenandoah Valley to the west, to join Beauregard. A brigade commanded by Thomas J. Jackson was among the reinforcements.
When McDowell attacked on July 21, the Federal troops seemed poised to scatter the Confederates in front of them. While part of the Union force held the attention of the center of the Confederate line, the main attack came around the Rebel left flank. By noon, the Yankees had broken the line and sent the Confederates in retreat. Then McDowell moved in for the kill by attempting to capture Henry Hill, the key to the battle. But he did not apply the full pressure of his army, and that respite allowed Beauregard to strengthen his force on the hill. Jackson's brigade moved artillery into place, and McDowell now faced a much stronger Confederate position.
(Excerpt) Read more at history.com ...
Hey, we won one!
For all the fame of this particular fight I find the second battle fought here much more fascinating.
read
I visited Manassas in April. Beautiful statue.
For both battles, the hero was Jackson!
We won more than one! LOL!
How the war would have progressed with Stonewall Jackson we will never know. The south was doomed from the start as Rhett Butler pointed out, arrogance and warehouses full of cotton don’t win wars. Remember an issue settled by force of arms must forever remain unsettled.
barbra ann
Rally round the Virginians boys!
"The Lincoln Administration required us to raise three regiments, tell him we have done so! Dismissed."
For one thing, I think Jackson would have talked Lee out of Pickett’s Charge on day three of Gettysburg, assuming that there had been a day three. Jackson didn’t like set-piece battles, which is why he was both an effective commander and one of the modern military thinkers of that era. So, I don’t believe there would have been a three day battle in that one location.
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Thanks mainepatsfan. |
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It is though he seems a bit warmly dressed for a battle in July :)
Jackson fought under Lee for about a year through some of the fiercest battles of the war and I'm not aware of a single time he questioned Lee's orders or tried to talk him out of any strategy. I doubt that Jackson would have started doing so at Gettysburg.
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