Johnston Moves to Join Beauregard

A Train on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad

On July 17th, Johnston 's troops in the Shenandoah Valley were ordered to join Beauregard. Facing Johnson was Patterson, but Patterson had moved so slowly that he had failed to press Johnston . His orders were to keep Johnston from reinforcing Beauregard, but he failed horribly. Johnston was able to combine with Beauregard so that they would outnumber McDowell's advancing army. To make this movement, new technologies were used. The Civil War brought the first widespread use of railroads to transport troops, and this would be one of its first uses. Johnston's army was rushed ontp trains to take them to Manassas Junction, where Beauregard's army was stationed. A journey that would have taken days or weeks on foot could now be accomplished in a few hours. This move would prove likely to change the outcome of the upcoming battle.