Preparations for Battle at Bull Run

The Positions of the armies on July 18th.

This morning, General Johnston joined Beauregard's army along the Bull Run. He had been ordered to leave the Shenandoah Valley and his opponents there behind, and bring his army to unite with Beauregard to crush McDowell. He was able to do this by moving quickly on the railroads, and because of the inattentiveness of his opponent, Patterson.

Gen. Joseph E. Johnston

Johnston was a full general, and Beauregard was only a brigadier, so Johnston took command of the army. But since Beauregard was familiar with the situation, he let him make many of the important decisions, while still retaining a hand in the direction of the events. Johnston approved a plan to attack McDowell on the Union left the next morning. Orders were sent out to alert the commanders of what they needed to do. However, the complicated plan was not relayed well. The orders were unclear, and many were not delivered at all. The next day would show the extent to which the Confederate army was ready to make the attack.

Gen. Irvin McDowell

While Johnston and Beauregard were preparing their plans, McDowell was ordering an attack as well. Through the noise of trains coming into the Confederate camp, he guessed correctly that Johnston had arrived with the army of the Shenandoah. He did not wish to try again on the Confederate right at Blackburn's Ford, where Tyler had been repulsed a few days before. Instead, he chose to attack on the Confederate left. So both armies planned to attack the other’s left the next morning. It was apparent that the next day could bring the battle that would decide the course of the war.

Battle of Blackburn's Ford

Blackburn's Ford, taken in 1862

Today, the armies of McDowell and Beauregard first met along the banks of Bull Run. Tyler's Division led McDowell's march. He made an armed reconnaissance toward Blackburn's Ford, on the right of the Confederate line. He believed that his advance was clear, but Longstreet's Brigade was waiting for him in the woods. As one of Tyler's brigades advanced toward the woods, they were met with a heavy fire. After twenty minutes they began to retreat. Tyler ordered the Brigade commander to withdraw, and finally after some debate they began to fall back. As they retreated, Early's Confederate brigade arrived which had been called up by Longstreet as reinforcements. The Federals, seeing them march into the open, opened fire. Early's men returned the fire, not realizing that Longstreet was caught in the middle. In this confusion, The Union brigade was able to make good their retreat.

When McDowell heard of the fight, he was very angry. Tyler had disobeyed orders which were not to attack. But he had learned that the Confederate right was strong and could not be taken easily. In this fight the North suffered about 85 casualties and the South 68. Although this fight was very small compared to the one that was coming in just a few days, many of the Confederates believed the war was won. They had never fought a true battle, so they did not know what to expect. Johnston's men arriving from the Shenandoah Valley believed that they had missed the great battle that would end the war.

This Week in the Civil War

Battle of Rich Mountain

Apologies for the delay in these posts, we we spent the week traveling.

This week, in West Virginia McClellan launched attacks on the Confederate positions on Laurel Hill and Rich Mountain. Skirmishing continued at Laurel Hill for five days. At Rich Mountain the Confederates were defeated after two hours of fighting, and hearing news of these defeat the Confederates retreated from Laurel Hill as well. The Unions pursued, and General Robert Garnett, the Confederate commander, was killed in the Battle of Corrick’s Ford. This was the first general to be killed in the Civil War. This further victories over the Confederates made George McClellan, the Federal Commander, an even greater hero in the North.

Garnett

In Virginia, the two pronged attack on Richmond advanced. McDowell move out with the main part of the army from Washington DC, and Patterson remained in the Shenandoah Valley, moving very slowly after his skirmishes with Johnson. With McDowell's advance on July 16^th, the first large scale campaign of the Civil War began.  

Skirmish near Vienna

150 years ago today Robert Shenck was ambushed on mission from Washington. McDowell sent him on a reconisance mission with his troops. As they reached Vienna, Virginia, the train that was carrying them was ambushed. Two Confederate cannons fired shot, shell and canister into the train. Shenck ordered his soldiers off the train, formed them into line and attacked the enemy. The engineer of the train uncoupled the cars, and ran off abandoning them to the enemy. They were greatly outnumbered, but the Confederates retreated, believing that more troops were on the way. Shenck was able to escape with just a few casualties, but this skirmish made the Union advance much more cautious the next time.