1st Battle of Bull run :: essays research papers

The send- run into major battle of the polished contend was fought in Virginia, near the Manassas, Virginia railway junction, after which the battle is called (or First damn Run, named after the flowing stream on the battlefield, if of the Union persuasion). The armies in this first battle were non very large by later Civil War standards. The Federal forces under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell were organized into iv divisions (five, if one includes Runyans division), of about 30,000 men. These divisions were checked by Tyler, Hunter, Heintzelman, (Runyan), and Miles. The Confederate command structure was clean more unwieldy, including 2 "armies", with no division structure and thirteen nonparasitic brigades under Bonham, Ewell, Jones, Longstreet, Cocke, Early, Holmes, Kershaw, Evans, Jackson, Bartow, Bee, Smith, and a cavalry brigade under Stuart. The Confederate ground forces of the Potomac was under the command of Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and the Army of the Shenandoah was commanded by Brigadier General Joseph E. Johnston. These two forces would equal McDowells strength. Interestingly enough, each commandant had planned to initiate an endeavor on the other side with a feint attack on the enemys right flank and a massed attack on the opposite flank. Had this been done simultaneously, and both been successful in their purpose, the two armies would have simply pivoted around each other and ended up in each others rear, able to march unopposed to Washington or Richmond, as the case may be. As it turned out, the general to the lowest degree successful in initiating this movement was the winner. McDowell had planned to use Tylers division as the diversionary attack at the Stone couplet, while Davies brigade did the comparable at Blackburns Ford. At the same time, Hunters and Heintzelmans divisions would cross Bull Run at Sudley Springs and attack from the north. McDowells green troops involved in the flanking chromatogr aphy column, reached their jumping off positions two and a half hours behind schedule. Tylers and Davies attacks at the Stone Bridge and Blackburns Ford were already well under way, and the Confederate high command was beginning to sense a ruse because the Union attacks were not touch very hard. When Beauregard was notified that Federal troops were massing on his left flank, he realise that this must be the main attack so began to shift his confess troop dispositions. The Federals had about 18,000 men in the main attack column and it was only thanks to the quick reactions of Colonel "Shank" Evans and his small brigade that Beauregard did not suffer a major disaster.