Bull Run

The battles of Bull are also called battles of Manassas or Manassas Junction. In the summers of 1861 and 1862, close to the small stream Bull Run, near Manassas in northern Virginia, the battles of Bull Run took place. Military advantages were given to the Confederacy.

On July 21, 1861 the First Battle of Bull Run took place where the Federal government ordered General Irvin McDowell to force his way to Bull Run against Richmond in Virginia.

22,000 Confederates, who were under the control of General Beauregard, had settled behind Bull Run three days before.

On July 21, 1861 the Confederates were attacked by the Union army. However, when Johnston’s force arrived at the battlefield, the Federals were forced to retreat. The 37,000 Northern men suffered casualties of about 3,000. On the other hand, the Southern troops amounting to 35,000 soldiers in the beginning, suffered causalities between 1,700 and 2,000 men.

More than a year later, on August 29-30, 1862, the Second Battle of Bull Run was fought. A Confederate army, amounting to more than 56,000, was under General Robert Edward Lee and a Federal force of 70,000 troops under Major General John Pope.

Due to the fact that Pope’s army could be joined with the Army of the Potomac, it had become his responsibility to cover Washington. Lee wanted to prevent this by splitting his forces and ordered General Thomas Jackson, who was also named “Stonewall”; to circle around Pope’s right flank. Between August 27–29, Lee instructed his main forces to join Jackson. On the afternoon of August 30, Lee ordered his entire army forward to attack the opponent. The Confederates won this battle, but both sides suffered casualties numbering to 15,000 for the North and 9,000 for the South.

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