July 21, 1861 Sunday
“The stirring mass looked like a bristling monster lifting himself by a slow, wavy motion up the laborious ascent,” an eyewitness reported. The Union army of Irvin McDowell was advancing to battle. The Federal commander, not knowing J.E. Johnston’s men had arrived to swell the Confederate host, moved about 13,000 of his force of some 37,000 men during the bright moonlight night from Centreville around westward and south to turn the Confederate left and achieve surprise. About 5:15 in the morning the Union artillery north of Bull Run opened fire. Then about 8:30 the Confederates defending the Stone Bridge were told of the Federal column at Sudley Ford on the Southern left flank. McDowell’s advance had been delayed by poor discipline, a night march, and inferior roads. Brig Gen N.G. Evans saw the threat and moved a portion of his small command to meet the Federals. The Confederate generals were informed of the surprise by E.P. Alexander and others.
J.E. Johnston and Beauregard, due to a mix-up in orders, had not been able to launch the Confederate drive against the Union left before learning of the well-planned Federal advance. Now the 35,000 Confederates would have to be on the defensive. The main battle began in midmorning as Evans opposed the Union column advancing from Sudley Ford upon the Southern left. He urgently called for help and it soon came, but of necessity by pieces, being brought in from the Confederate right and from encampments around Manassas Junction. Main help at first came from Barnard Bee, and the Confederates held until nearly noon when increased Federal troops moved into the attack. The Southern forces were compelled to retreat in some confusion, back over Young’s Branch to the Henry House Hill. Here they made their stand with Bee, Francis Bartow, Evans, and Jackson. Here came the famous incident when Barnard Bee, who was soon to fall mortally wounded, shouted, “Look! There is Jackson standing like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!” Here was won, in the midst of battle, Jackson’s sobriquet, “Stonewall.” Johnston and Beauregard arrived on the field as the Confederate line stiffened and even advanced. At approximately 2:00 in the afternoon McDowell’s men ran forward two batteries to an exposed position near the Henry House. Confederates attacked the guns and seized them. Charges and countercharges ensued. Beauregard, directing the immediate fighting, advanced to clear the Henry House Hill area. Other Confederates, some of them fresh from the Shenandoah, moved up on the left and struck the Federal right in flank and rear. Coming shortly before 4:00 in the afternoon, the Confederate drive ended the battle with a tremendous success. The Federal line fell back, at first in moderately good order. But as McDowell’s men turned back over Bull Run, defeated, confusion mounted. A Confederate shell hit a wagon on Cub Run Bridge, jamming the main retreat route to Centreville. Panic took over some Federal troops. On the other hand, there were unblooded Northern units who did stand ground, and perhaps the extent of the Federal rout has been exaggerated. Soldiers mingled with congressmen and other sightseers who had come out to see the battle. As for the Confederates, no real follow-up was attempted or probably possible – for they had been in a terrific fight. There were heavy casualties on both sides, at least for that day, and the men were physically exhausted from their efforts, the heat, and the emotional strain of battle.
The dead and wounded gave witness to the severity of the first great battle of the war. Federals, 460 killed, 1124 wounded, and 1312 missing for 2896; Confederates, 387 killed, 1582 wounded, and 13 missing for 1982. A Confederate described it as “a square stand-up fight” in open terrain by novices at warfare. A Federal said, “This was war; compact, well-made and reasoning war. It was war, too, in all its panoply and glory, as well as in its strength.”
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/fi ... ly-21.html, and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Battle_of_Bull_Run, and
http://www.americancivilwar.com/statepic/va/va005.html, and
http://www.civilwarhome.com/1manassa.htm At Washington President Lincoln attends church service. Lincoln spends most of day in telegraph office of War Dept. with members of cabinet and army personnel, analyzing dispatches and studying maps of battlefield. Drops in dozen times during evening and leaves after midnight. From 1:30 to 3:30 in the afternoon he receives dispatches at fifteen-minute intervals from Fairfax Station, three or four miles from battle. [Messages dispatched by Andrew Carnegie, later industrialist and philanthropist.] Sen. Zachariah Chandler (Mich.) gives President eyewitness account of Battle of Bull Run, Manassas. Lincoln dines at 3:30 P.M. and goes to War Dept. to discuss with Gen. Scott dispatches that indicate Federal troops are retreating. Scott assures him news is not unfavorable. At 6 P.M. Lincoln drives to Navy Yard and talks with Comdr. Dahlgren. Returns to White House about 7 P.M. and learns from Sec. Seward that battle has been lost. Remains awake all night, listening to stories of senators and congressmen returning from battlefield. "By day-break what had been the Union's hopeful army began streaming past, now only a rain-soaked mob."
President Davis, who had arrived at Manassas in time to witness the victory, was discussing the next move with Generals Johnston and Beauregard. The argument continued for years over whether the Confederates cold have gone on into or nearer to Washington that Sunday night or the next day, but the fact is they didn’t. First Bull Run (Union name for it) or First Manassas (Confederate name for it) was over. Though there was dissatisfaction at the North, there was also a realization that this was a war and the people had better get busy and pull together. For the South it perhaps gave a bit of overconfidence – the Southern soldier had proved himself and the infant nation had taken a grown-up step forward.
Meanwhile, over in the Shenandoah, where most of Johnston’s men had joined Beauregard, there was a brief skirmish at Charles Town. Gen Scott in Washington ordered Maj Gen N.P. Banks to relieve Maj Gen Patterson in command of the Department of the Shenandoah, blaming Patterson for the failure to hold Johnston in the valley. Far to the west U.S. troops skirmished with Indians on the south fork of the Eel River in California.
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