THE BATTLE OF SECOND BULL RUN
August 29th-30th, 1862

The second battle at Bull Run Creek occurred after several days of manoeuvre on the part of both armies. Lee turned Pope out of a strong defensive position near Sulphur Springs on the Rappahannock by sending Jackson around behind his lines to destroy his supply base at Manassas, which he burned on 27th. Pope set out in pursuit but could not find Jackson until a sharp engagement at Groveton on the evening of 28th revealed his position. Pope's army consisted of 60,000 men divided into five corps under Sigel, McDowell, Heintzelman, Porter and Reno. Lee's consisted of about 52,000 in two corps under Jackson (25,000) and, when he arrived, Longstreet (27,000).
Jackson was deployed in a NE-SW line in an unfinished railway cutting in the woods to the north of Groveton. Pope planned co-ordinated attacks on both flanks but this proved impossible as McDowell and Porter had been delayed in the darkness. However, he sent in Sigel, Reno and Heintzelman. An attack on Jackson's left flank nearly broke through but was held in some savage hand-to-hand fighting. All day, Jackson's line wavered as it was struck by repeated attacks but it never quite broke. Pope was annoyed with Porter for not attacking Jackson's right but Porter refused, saying that he was facing Longstreet and half the Confederate army. Pope did not believe him but it was true - Longstreet had arrived mid-morning, but took no part in the battle that day, being worried about reports of troops at Manassas (this turned out to have been Porter).
On the 30th, Pope, observing only a few of Jackson's troops, assumed that he was retreating and prepared to follow up. In point of fact, his own position was precarious in the extreme for Jackson had simply pulled back into the woods for a rest. With Longstreet deploying to the south, Pope was in the jaws of a "V", the apex of which was bristling with artillery. Pope took time to prepare his "pursuit" properly and it was not until mid-afternoon that the attack was launched. The canny Longstreet waited until all the reserves were committed before unleashing his artillerymen. They sent heavy, rapid fire into the flank of the advancing Union troops who fell back shattered.
At last, Longstreet sent his soldiers forward. Jackson's men, realising this, also swept forward and the jaws of the nut-cracker closed. The Union retreat, although precipitate, was a marked contrast to the retreat from 1st Bull Run, almost a year before. It lacked the overall sense of panic, and a number of fighting stands meant that the retreat was successfully carried out. Nevertheless, the casualty figures - Pope's total of killed, wounded and captured came to 18,000 compared to Lee's 9,000 - told the story.