Battle of Bull Run

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of ammunition that could be shot out of the cannons (First Battle of Bull Run) (Ballard, 2004). Solid projectiles (aka cannon balls) ricochet across the battlefield , tearing limbs off of unsuspecting soldiers. Artillery shells exploded on contact, leveling a small area with a large concussive blast and shrapnel. Case shot are thin metal shells packed with shrapnel and sawdust that erupt into pieces as soon as they are fired. Like a veritable confetti gun from hell, these shells unleash a cascade of shrapnel upon the battlefield causing maximum damage in a wide cone. Weapons used during the civil war may seem primitive today, but soldiers of the time learned to use them exceedingly well. By looking at the death toll alone, we can understand that these weapons were used to maximum effect by the soldiers who wielded them.

Northern Leadership

The leader of the northern offensive in the offset of the civil war was Brigadier General Irvin McDowell. In his early life before the outset of the civil war, McDowell was a West Point graduate of 1838 commissioning into the 1st Artillery Regiment along the Canadian border. He promptly moved up the ranks throughout the U.S –Mexican War (1846-1848), gaining experience in logistics and supply protocol while serving as a staff officer. With his innate experience from military life, and his close friendship with General Winfield Scott and Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase, he was promoted to Major rank in March of 1856.

By the outset of the American Civil War, McDowell was promoted three grades to brigadier general of the regular army on May 14, 1861, taking command of the Army of Northeastern Virginia. Having never led troops on the field before, McDowell was skeptical about his sudden promotion which may have attributed to his inevitable loss on the field of Manassas at the First Battle of Bull Run.

Northern newspapers pressured President Lincoln to come up with strategy to end the war quickly after the attack at Fort Sumter set things into motion. Aware that the ninety day recruit enlistments were shortly becoming null and void, Lincoln set his trust in McDowell who by then had come up with a working strategy to take the capital of Richmond. To do that, he would first have to march his army south twenty miles to the railroad junction at Manassas Virginia which was a major supply route for southern forces. Capturing this junction would then offer a straight shot to Richmond further to the south.

After three days of getting his recruits trained and ready to march, they set off toward Manassas. The troops took two days to march the twenty mile distance, each moment their inexperience being put on display for the rest of the troops. Men took their time to forage for berries and nap while the burning summer heat subsided. At the same time Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard was given plenty of time to prepare for the upcoming battle, having scout reports of the slowly moving force moving to the junction. This gave him ample time to redeploy his forces and “dig in” to prepare their defense of the river.

McDowell in all accounts was ready to be the victor of this battle, having a strong plan and a larger military force of 37,000 recruits vs the confederate 20,000. The day however, was not McDowell’s. His army was too inexperienced and incapable of following the orders they were given. The Union forces crossed the stream and pushed the Confederates into defensive positions atop a hill and from then on, the current victor was unclear. Stonewall Jackson was able to rally his troops and break the Union right flank, resulting in a mass panic among the troops ,having them rout back to Washington D.C. in full retreat.

After the battle, McDowell was relieved of command of his army, having it placed in the capable hands of Gen. George B. McClellan. McDowell was given command of I Corps in the New Army of the Potomac with the rank of Major General of volunteers. McDowell was later criticized for his role in the defeat of the Union forces at the second battle of Bull Run. He was then relieved of his command and his career at that point had been ruined.