150 Years Ago: Changes

On Thursday, July 25, 1861, several changes occurred in the wake of the Battle of Bull Run.

Union General George McClellan arrived in Washington to replace Irvin McDowell.  A general order was issued outlining the extent of his new command.  General William Rosecrans replaced McClellan as commander of the Department of the Ohio and the "Army of Occupation, Western Virginia."

Nathaniel Banks replaced Robert Patterson as commander of the Army of the Shenandoah.  Patterson, 69, had done a poor job of containing General Joseph E. Johnston's army in the Shenandoah Valley, allowing the Confederates to join with Beauregard at Bull Run.  Patterson was relieved of command and given an honorable discharge, ending his service in the Civil War.

General John Frémont finally arrived in St. Louis to take over the newly created Department of the West.  Frémont had been named to the command on July 3, and had spent much of the intervening time in New York trying to buy weapons and supplies.

Union General Jacob Cox, commanding the Kanawha Brigade of the Department of the Ohio, got behind Henry Wise's position at Tyler Mountain on July 24, forcing Wise to retreat to Charleston, Virginia (now West Virginia).  As Cox approached the town, Wise retreated again.  The Federals occupied the town on July 25.

The U.S. Senate passed the Crittenden-Johnson Resolution by a vote of 30-to-5.  The House had previously approved the measure on July 22.  The resolution stated that the war was being fought "to defend and maintain the supremacy of the Constitution and to preserve the Union" and not for "overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established institutions of those States."  The measure was seen as necessary for keeping the slave states of Kentucky, Missouri and Maryland in the Union, but in a couple of weeks Lincoln would sign a confiscation act allowing for the seizure of property, including slaves, from rebellious citizens.

Robert M. T. Hunter replaced Robert Toombs as the Confederate Secretary of State.  Toombs, the only member of Jefferson Davis's cabinet to voice opposition to the attack on Fort Sumter, had resigned to join the Confederate army.  He received a commission as a brigadier general on July 19, and served as a brigade commander in Joe Johnston's Confederate Army of the Potomac.

At Mesilla, in New Mexico Territory, the Union garrison at Fort Fillmore attacked John Baylor's Confederates in a brief skirmish.  The Union assault was repulsed and they eventually retreated back to the fort.  When Baylor moved on the fort the following day, the Union troops abandoned it and retreated toward Fort Stanton.  Baylor pursued, capturing stragglers by the dozens before overtaking the Federals and forcing their surrender at San Augustine Springs on July 27.

150 Years Ago: The Eve of the Big Battle

Image via Wikipedia

Saturday, July 20, 1861, was the eve of the largest battle to this point in the Civil War, the Battle of Bull Run.

The firing on Fort Sumter and President Lincoln's war proclamation was three months ago, in April, and so far there had not been a lot of action.  Many people, in the North and the South, thought this would be a short, limited war.  One decisive battle would show those damned Yankees (or Rebels, depending on your side) a thing or two, and then all this foolishness would be over.

It just seemed logical that the big battle would take place in northern Virginia between the two capitals, Washington and Richmond, and public opinion on both sides was pushing for the battle to happen soon.  "Forward to Richmond" screamed banner headlines in the North.  Now wasn't soon enough.  Many had hoped that Richmond could be taken by today, July 20, when the Confederate Congress would be convening in their new capital for the first time.

Union General Irvin McDowell had been pushed into this battle.  McDowell knew his army wasn't ready to fight.  The belief that the war would be a quick one had led Lincoln, when he proclaimed war and called for 75,000 militia immediately after Fort Sumter, to sign these initial recruits to three-month enlistments.  Now the three months was ending and the enlistments were expiring and many men in McDowell's army would be going home soon.

New recruits were pouring in to replace them, but it would take time to train them and organize them.  The three-month men weren't even trained properly.  Most of the officers, including McDowell himself, had never led troops in battle.

In late June, McDowell had submitted a plan of operations to the War Department.  He had stayed away from the grandiose plan of taking Richmond and concentrated on the Confederate army in his front.  He estimated that P. G. T. Beauregard had 25,000 men (he actually had closer to 20,000) amassed near Manassas Junction behind a stream called Bull Run, and that was as far as McDowell planned to go for the immediate future.

Two other armies, both called the Army of the Shenandoah, complicated the picture.  The Union Army of the Shenandoah, led by Robert Patterson, faced General Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate Army of the Shenandoah.  McDowell's plan called for Patterson to keep Johnston busy so that he could not rush to Beauregard's aid.

Map: July 1861 -- The Bull Run Campaign Overview

McDowell was ordered to begin his advance on July 9, but that wasn't much time and delays were inevitable.  And McDowell was pushing for more time, knowing that his army was not ready for a fight, until Lincoln finally told him, "You are green, it is true; but they are green, also; you are all green alike."  McDowell began his advance a week late.  

Over in the Shenandoah Valley, Patterson was facing the same problem as McDowell with three-month men in his army whose enlistments were ending.  Patterson had also been given vague orders -- he wasn't sure if he was supposed to attack Johnston or just maneuver against him.  Johnston sent his cavalry, led by J. E. B. Stuart, to harass and confuse him, and Patterson maneuvered himself out of the campaign, settling in Charlestown, twenty miles away from the nearest Confederates, where he reported that "it would be ruinous to advance, or even to stay here, without immediate increase of force."  Johnston marched his men to the Manassas Gap Railroad line and began shuffling them east to Beauregard.

That would not have mattered if McDowell had advanced quickly.  He could have dealt with Beauregard's army before Johnston arrived, but his worst fears about his army were realized when they began to move.  The line of advance crept forward with the men spending more time standing around than marching.  Marching for miles with full packs in the hot July sun was beginning to seem much more complicated than marching around a parade ground.

When McDowell's army finally reached Centreville, just two or three miles from the Rebel position, they had eaten all their rations.  McDowell paused for two more days to get his wagon trains and the rest of his army up, and all the while, more and more of Johnston's army was linking up with Beauregard's.

McDowell and his officers had also been spending the time doing reconnaissance of the Confederate position.  Their line on the south side of Bull Run stretched from the stone bridge on the left where the Warrenton Turnpike crossed the stream to the Orange and Alexandria Railroad bridge on the right.  A reconnaissance-in-force on Blackburn's Ford in the center of the Confederate line was repulsed on July 18, convincing McDowell to try a flanking attack.  He would take a substantial part of his force to the right, around the Confederate left, crossing Bull Run upstream at Sudley Springs Ford.

Map:  July 18, 1861 -- The Confederate line, the Union army concentrating at Centreville, the recon and skirmish at Blackburn's Ford

In fact, both commanders would plan attacks on the other's left.  Beauregard had a grand Napoleonic plan to mass his men on his right and wheel them around to catch McDowell in the left flank.  The plan didn't have much hope of success with his green army, but it didn't matter.  McDowell would beat Beauregard to the punch and catch Beauregard with most of his men massed far away from the point of attack.

McDowell began getting his men into motion after dark.  They would all be moving by 2:30 a.m., July 21.

150 Years Ago: Developments in the Bull Run Campaign

On July 17, 1861, the advance guard of Union General Irvin McDowell's Army of Northeastern Virginia occupied Fairfax Court House, Virginia, on its way toward its encounter with P. G. T. Beauregard's Army of the Potomac at Manassas.  Meanwhile, over in the Shenandoah Valley, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston began to move away from the Union army in his front, that of General Robert Patterson, to make his way to Manassas to link up with Beauregard.

At Fairfax Court House, advance elements of McDowell's army occupied the town without incident.  The Confederates, the advance units of Beauregard's army, evacuated the town just prior to the Federals arrival, leaving behind a quantity of supplies, and settled in just south of the town.  Federal cavalry ran them off, but the infantry was too tired to take up the chase.

Beauregard had asked for help.  He needed Johnston's army in the Shenandoah Valley to join up with him to even up the odds against McDowell for the impending battle at Manassas.  Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered Johnston to move over to Manassas, and Johnston began on this day.

Johnston had to break away from Patterson's Union army in his front, but that was no problem.  J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry was keeping Patterson busy, and Patterson, in violation of his vague orders to contain Johnston, had moved over to Charles Town instead of advancing directly on the Confederate position.  Johnston moved his troops to the nearest railhead and began moving them to Manassas Junction.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago: Patterson Crosses the Potomac (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago: McDowell's Plan (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago: The Bull Run Campaign (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago: The Bull Run Campaign

Image of Irvin McDowell via Wikipedia

On July 16, 1861, the Bull Run campaign began when Union General Irvin McDowell moved his Army of Northeastern Virginia out of Washington area, southeast into Virginia toward General P. G. T. Beauregard's Confederate Army of the Potomac.  The advance would lead to the first major battle of the Civil War, the First Battle of Bull Run, on July 21.

McDowell's army was the largest ever assembled in American history to that point, some 35,000 men.  Facing him, Beauregard had 20,000 encamped at Manassas Junction behind a small stream called Bull Run.

Two other armies complicated the campaign.  Union General Robert Patterson's Army of the Shenandoah had crossed the Potomac and moved south to confront General Joseph E. Johnston's army, also known as the Army of the Shenandoah.  Patterson's vague orders called for him to keep Johnston busy in the Shenandoah Valley and prevent him from moving east and reinforcing Beauregard.  If Joe Johnston could reach Beauregard with his 12,000 men, the odds would be a lot more even.

McDowell was being pushed into a battle that he didn't think his army was ready for.  He wanted more time to organize and train them, but he was under intense time constraints.  Almost everyone, North and South, thought this would be a short war.  The Northern public especially was clamoring for an advance on Richmond and a decisive battle that would win the war.

Another time constraint:  McDowell's army (and Patterson's too) would soon be unraveling.  A product of the belief in a short war, the first wave of Union volunteers after the firing on Fort Sumter were signed to three-month enlistments.  Now the three months was almost up.  If McDowell was going to use this army, he would have to do it soon.

McDowell wanted more time, expressing the need for more training for this still green army.  Lincoln had tried to reassure him, saying, "You are green, it is true, but they are green also; you are all green alike."  This was true enough, but the Confederates weren't having to make a grueling march to get to the battle.  Lincoln had directed McDowell to move out by July 9.  Arrangements had taken longer than expected, but McDowell was finally on the road a week late.

And as McDowell was beginning to move, Johnston was parrying with Patterson in the valley, sending J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry against Patterson's advance units and forcing the old general to sit this one out.  Johnson would soon slip away, but would not reach Beauregard until July 20-21.

McDowell should have had enough time to reach Beauregard and give battle before Johnston showed up, but his misgivings about his army would be realized as soon as they were on the move.

The advance was a mess.  The men had never marched in formation for hours in July heat with full gear, and officers had never led men in a long march.  It was a vastly different experience than marching for an hour or so around a parade ground.  Bottlenecks and long halts quickly developed.  By the evening of the 16th, McDowell's advance was in Fairfax Court House, where they drove off enemy skirmishers and made camp.  The next day, the troops were exhausted and could only cover six miles.  It took until July 18 for the advance to reach Centreville, close to the Confederate position, and would take another two days for McDowell to get the rest of his army up.  He would finally be ready for an attack on July 21.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago: Patterson Crosses the Potomac (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago: McDowell's Plan (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)

150 Years Ago: Patterson Crosses the Potomac

Image via Wikipedia

On Tuesday, July 2, 1861, Federal troops under Brigadier General Robert Patterson crossed the Potomac and moved into the Shenandoah Valley.

This was a vital part of Irvin McDowell's plan to attack P. G. T. Beauregard's army at Manassas.  Patterson's job was to keep Joseph E. Johnston's Confederate army in the valley busy to keep them from reinforcing Beauregard's army.

Patterson, a 69-year-old veteran of the War of 1812 and the Mexican War, took his army across the Potomac at Williamsburg, Maryland, then advanced toward Martinsburg, Virginia (now West Virginia).

Colonel Thomas Jackson, commanding a brigade in Johnston's army, sent the 5th Virginia Regiment north to confront the Federal army.  The two forces met on the Valley Turnpike between Hainesville and Falling Waters.  The Battle of Hoke's Run (also known as the Battle of Falling Waters and the Battle of Hainesville) was a delaying action that lasted about 45 minutes until the Union army was able to bring up four cannons and drive the 5th Virginia back.  Casualties were light on both sides, but J. E. B. Stuart's cavalry surprised and captured 49 Union soldiers.

Related articles

• 150 Years Ago: McDowell's Plan (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)
• 150 Years Ago: Johnston Withdraws from Harper's Ferry (civilwarmeanderings.blogspot.com)