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Bull Run

 
Dictionary: Bull Run
 

A small stream of northeast Virginia southwest of Washington, D.C., near Manassas. It was the site of two important Civil War battles (July 21, 1861, and August 29–30, 1862), both Confederate victories. They are also known as the Battles of Manassas.

 

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Military History Companion: battles of Bull Run
 

Bull Run, battles of (1861 and 1862), Union defeats in the vicinity of Manassas Railway Junction, crucial for communications across northern Virginia to the Shenandoah valley and only 25 miles (40 km) from Washington. McDowell took the offensive in July 1861 knowing his 35, 000 men were ‘green’. But so were the Confederates, who were widely dispersed with 22, 000 under Beauregard close to Washington and 9, 500 under Johnston 50 miles (80 km) away in the Shenandoah. Beauregard fell back on the Bull Run river, but his left was outflanked and fell back in disorder after fierce resistance. Leading the Shenandoah reinforcements from the railhead at Manassas Junction, Jackson formed on the reverse slope of Henry House Hill and halted the rout. Enfiladed by aggressively handled Union artillery, his position was salvaged by a spontaneous infantry charge. Union forces massed against him were outflanked in turn and dissolved in panic. Washington would almost certainly have fallen to a determined pursuit.

Second Bull Run was where Lincoln finally learned that he had no talent for directing armies. Having recalled McDowell when his advance on Richmond might have helped McClellan in the Seven Days battles, and Banks when he might have made a difference in the Shenandoah, he put them both under the command of Pope and ordered him to advance before McClellan could return from the Jamestown peninsula. Uncannily echoing the first battle, throughout 29 August Pope battered a strong position held by Jackson's corps, which was reduced to throwing rocks. Oblivious to Longstreet coming up on his left, he continued the attack the next day and was shattered by a Confederate counter-offensive that came very close to enveloping his whole army. Pope was sent to chase Indians in Minnesota; McClellan regained command and for once managed to act faster than Lee expected, bringing him to battle and near-destruction at Antietam.

— Hugh Bicheno

 
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia: Battles of Bull Run
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Two engagements of the American Civil War fought at a stream near Manassas, Va. The first battle (also called First Manassas) was fought on July 21, 1861, between 37,000 Union troops under Gen. Irvin McDowell (1818 – 85) and 35,000 Confederate troops under P.G.T. Beauregard and Joseph Johnston. In this first major encounter of the war, the Union assault was beaten back and the army retreated to Washington, D.C. The second battle took place on Aug. 29 – 30, 1862, between a Confederate force of more than 56,000 under Robert E. Lee and a Union army of more than 70,000 under John Pope. To prevent the Union army from being joined by the Army of the Potomac, Lee sent troops under Stonewall Jackson to march around Pope's right flank. Lee's attack forced the Union troops to withdraw as far as Washington, D.C. Casualties numbered 15,000 for the North and 9,000 for the South. Both battles strengthened the South's resolve and caused the North to review its military leadership and strategy.

For more information on Battles of Bull Run, visit Britannica.com.

 
US History Encyclopedia: First Battle of Bull Run
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Bull Run, First Battle of (21 July 1861), the first major engagement of the Civil War, known in the Confederacy as the First Battle of Manassas. The principal Union army of some 30,000 men, under General Irvin McDowell, was mobilized around Washington. Union General Robert Patterson, with a smaller army, was sent to hold Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston in the Shenandoah Valley. General Pierre G. T. Beauregard's Southern army occupied the line of Bull Run Creek, a shallow, meandering stream that runs across the main highways south of Washington.

Public opinion compelled President Abraham Lincoln to order McDowell to advance. The Union attack on 17 July forced an advance force under General M. L. Bonham back to Centreville. The next morning, Bonham rejoined the main Southern force, in a line extending about eight miles behind Bull Run. McDowell and Beauregard planned to turn each other's flank. General Richard S. Ewell, on the Confederate right, was to cross Bull Run at day light on 21 July, with the other brigades to follow. But Beauregard's order did not reach Ewell. General James Longstreet, after crossing, waited in vain for word of his attack. By 7 A.M., Union forces were attacking the Confederate left at Stone Bridge. Johnston sent General T. J. Jackson to support the troops at Stone Bridge, and other regiments soon followed. Fierce fighting raged along Bull Run; and it is here that Jackson won the nickname "Stonewall."

The arrival of another portion of Johnston's army turned the tide in favor of the Confederates. The disorderly Union retreat across Bull Run soon became a rout as troops fled back to Washington. Afterward, bitter controversy ensued between Jefferson Davis, Johnston, and Beauregard as to the responsibility for not pursuing the defeated Federal troops into Washington. From some 13,000 men engaged, the Union tallied about 500 killed, 1,000 wounded, and 1,200 missing; the Confederates, with about 11,000 engaged, counted about 400 killed, 1,600 wounded, and 13 missing.

Bibliography

Davis, William C. Battle at Bull Run: A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1977.

Johnson, Robert M. Bull Run: Its Strategy and Tactics. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1913.

McDonald, Jo Anna M. We Shall Meet Again: The First Battle of Manassas (Bull Run), July 18–21, 1861. Shippensburg, Pa.: White Mane, 1999.

—Milledge L. Bonham, Jr./A. R.

 
Columbia Encyclopedia: Bull Run
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Bull Run, small stream, NE Va., c.30 mi (50 km) SW of Washington, D.C. Two important battles of the Civil War were fought there: the first on July 21, 1861, and the second Aug. 29–30, 1862. Both battlefields are included in Manassas National Battlefield Park (est. 1940).

First Battle of Bull Run

The first battle of Bull Run (or first battle of Manassas) was the first major engagement of the Civil War. On July 16, 1861, the Union army under Gen. Irvin McDowell began to move on the Confederate force under Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard at Manassas Junction, Va. Gen. Robert Patterson's force at nearby Martinsburg was to prevent the Confederate army under Gen. Joseph E. Johnston at Winchester from uniting with Beauregard but failed, and by July 20 part of Johnston's army had reached Manassas. On July 21, McDowell, turning Beauregard's left, attacked the Confederates near the stone bridge over Bull Run and drove them back to the Henry House Hill. There Confederate resistance, with Gen. Thomas J. Jackson standing like a “stone wall,” checked the Union advance, and the arrival of Gen. E. Kirby Smith's brigade turned the tide against the Union forces. The unseasoned Union volunteers retreated, fleeing along roads jammed by panicked civilians who had turned out in their Sunday finery to watch the battle. The retreat became a rout as the soldiers made for the defenses of Washington, but the equally inexperienced Confederates were in no condition to make an effective pursuit. The South rejoiced at the result, while the North was spurred to greater efforts to win the war.

Second Battle of Bull Run

The second battle of Bull Run (or second battle of Manassas) was also a victory for the Confederates. In July, 1862, the Union Army of Virginia under Gen. John Pope threatened the town of Gordonsville, a railroad junction between Richmond and the Shenandoah valley. Gen. Robert E. Lee sent Stonewall Jackson to protect the town, and on Aug. 9, 1862, Jackson defeated Nathaniel Banks's corps, the vanguard of Pope's army, in the battle of Cedar Mt. (or Cedar Run). When Gen. George McClellan's army was gradually withdrawn from Harrison's Landing on the James River (where it had remained after the Seven Days battles) to reinforce Pope, Lee concentrated his whole army at Gordonsville. He planned to strike before Pope could be reinforced. Pope withdrew to the north side of the Rappahannock River. Lee followed to the south side and on Aug. 25 boldly divided his army. By Aug. 28, Jackson had marched to the Union right and rear, destroyed Union communications and supplies, and stationed his troops just west of the first Bull Run battlefield, where he awaited the arrival of James Longstreet with the rest of Lee's army. Pope was attacking Jackson when Longstreet came up on Aug. 29. The attack was repulsed, but Pope, mistaking a re-formation of Jackson's lines for a retreat, renewed it the next day. After the Union troops were again driven back, Lee ordered Longstreet to counterattack. Longstreet, supported by Jackson, swept Pope from the field. The Union forces retreated across Bull Run, badly defeated. Lee's pursuit ended at Chantilly, where the Union forces stopped Jackson on Sept. 1, 1862. Pope then withdrew to Washington.


 

The first major battle of the Civil War in which a battalion of inexperienced Marines from the Washington Navy Yard performed well beyond what should have been expected of them. With an average of 3 weeks since enlisting, the Marines were trained enroute to the battle by Major John G. Reynolds, the battalion commander, and his officers. They supported the 11th New York "Fire Zouaves" in the first attack during which the Zouaves broke and ran--never to be seen again on the battlefield-taking the Marines with them from the field. The Marines were rallied four times and entered the battle (a rate equal to the professional soldiers of the Federal Army) five times. On the fifth attack the field was swept by fresh Confederate troops (in blue uniforms) who had just been brought in by train from the Shenandoah Valley. General McDowell and his officers roundly praised the Marines for their skill and tenacity but Colonel Commandant John Harris, in his report to the Secretary of the Navy, wrote, "It is the first instance in history where any portion of its members turned their backs on the enemy." Ignoring fact, the Commandant attempted to hurt the career of Major Reynolds and established a lie in the annals of the Corps.

 
Wikipedia: Bull Run (Occoquan River)
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Bull Run is a free-flowing tributary stream of the Potomac River that originates from a spring in the Bull Run Mountains in Loudoun County, Virginia and flows south to the Occoquan River. Bull Run serves as the boundary between Loudoun County and Prince William County and Fairfax County and Prince William County. Bull Run is primarily associated with two battles of the American Civil War: the First Battle of Bull Run and the Second Battle of Bull Run.

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See also

Potomac River system
Cities and towns | Bridges | Islands | Tributaries | Variant names
District of Columbia | Maryland | Pennsylvania | Virginia | West Virginia
Streams shown as: Major tributaries • subtributaries • (subsubtributaries) • (subsubsubtributaries)

 
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Copyrights:

Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Military History Companion. The Oxford Companion to Military History. Copyright © 2001, 2004 by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
US History Encyclopedia. © 2006 through a partnership of Answers Corporation. All rights reserved.  Read more
Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/  Read more
Marine Corps Dictionary. Copyright © 2003 "Unofficial Dictionary for Marines" compiled and edited by Glenn B. Knight  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Bull Run (Occoquan River)" Read more

 

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