First Battle of Bull Run
Three months after For Sumter's bombardment, on July 21st, 28,000 men under Union General McDowell met up with 33,000 Confederates under General P.G.T. Beauregard. This was the first real battle of the war and McDowell was under intense pressure to crush the uprising.
"There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!"
-- Brigadier General Barnard Bee, CSA
The Union army was advancing towards Richmond and met the
rebel forces advancing towards Manassas. During the five hour battle, the
Confederates were under retreat except for soldiers under Gen. Jackson.
Jackson was able to hold out like a stone wall near Henry House Hill and soon he carried the nickname, Stonewall.
First Bull Run, or First Manassas as the Rebels called it, was the scene of the war's first bloodshed. It was near a little creek called Bull Run, 25 miles from Washington, D.C.
First the Union army had the upper hand. Then the Rebels. And, in the end, the Confederates had the victory. Union political leaders got serious in a hurry. Southern morale soared. Some Rebel fighters thinking the war was won, even went home.
It was Lincoln's first defeat.. He responded with more calls for volunteers. He also appointed Gen. George McClellan to lead the forces near Washington. All McClellan did was drill the men. While in the west, the fight for control of the Mississippi waged on.