Leading Up to Secession…

It was December of 1860 and the people of South Carolina had had it.

The general election returns were in, and Abraham Lincoln of Illinois had been elected President, a move that broke the South’s patience. Fire-eaters pressed for secession now that this “black Republican” was going to Washington. South Carolina had been seething for years with states’ rights fury, from the Nullification Crisis of 1832-33 to the 1860 election. Lincoln had not even appeared on the ballot in the South, testimony to the South’s hatred of Lincoln even before the delegates met in Charleston.

The flag of South Carolina

Abraham Lincoln had brought up a major problem in his debate at Freeport with Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln asked what if the people of a territory should vote down slavery? The Supreme Court had ruled in Scott vs. Sandford (1857) that territories could not vote down slavery.

The Little Giant- Stephen A Douglas

Douglas replied that slavery could be voted down when territories proposed slave laws for voting, as these would not be passed if popular opinion were not behind them. His logic was based on the precedent that federal law cannot remain in place when popular opinion is against it.
The South, and South Carolina in particular, thought they knew where this was heading. Douglas essentially was denying the authority of the Supreme Court. The Dred Scott Decision was a major victory for the South, which was reassured that the Fifth Amendment forbade the government from taking their property, in this case slaves. While Douglas’s understanding of the consent of the government was in a way an acknowledgement of States’ Rights, the South saw this as an attack on one of the few clear victories in the War of Compromises. The Democratic Party was already falling apart, and the South was even more determined to let the party, and country, fall apart rather than lose their rights.

Then came the four-way election of 1860. John Bell’s Constitutional Union Party, John C. Breckenridge’s Southern Democrat Party, Stephen A. Douglas and the Northern Democrats, and Abraham Lincoln, the Republican candidate crowded the field. The South hated Lincoln, sure that he was going to rob them of their slaves. The future President did not receive a single electoral vote from the South.

South Carolina had decided that if Lincoln came in to office, they were out of the deal. The election sealed it. On December 20th, South Carolina seceded, even before Lincoln’s inauguration. The people of the Palmetto State took another step towards war.

Blogging the War- Stonewall and the Valley Campaign- Spring, 1862

Good evening America,

I’d like you to meet a very interesting character tonight.

He was an orphan, raised by his uncle, and grew up to be very religious. He attended the US Military Academy at West Point, served in the Mexican War, and became a teacher of Natural Philosophy (physics) at VMI. He taught Sunday school to Negro children. He would be remembered as possibly the greatest tactician in American history.

Stonewall Jackson

His name was Thomas Jonathan Jackson. He is remembered in history as Stonewall.

Jackson was a strange character. He was brilliant in war- some said that he “Lives by the New Testament but fights by the Old.” All through his life, he is remembered as a devoted Christian, a hypochondriac, and an expert at surviving.

The first battle of the Civil War that Stonewall fought in was the Battle of Bull Run, the first battle of the war. It was there that a Southern General, Bernard Bee, saw the fortitude of Jackson’s brigade (made of from the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 27th, and 33rd Virginia Infantry regiments and the Rockbridge Artillery Battery), known later in the war as the Stonewall Brigade; rallied his own troops with “There stands Jackson like a stonewall. Rally behind the Virginians!” Interestingly enough, this brigade still exists in the modern US Army. A testament to Jackson, I think, when in the Civil War it was not uncommon to lose from 50-70% of a company, or a regiment, and some companies lost 100%. Staggering numbers, no?

Jackson became Lee’s right hand man. Jackson was one of the best commanders in the South, and Lee knew this. One of the best examples of what Jackson could accomplish was the Vally Campaign in the spring of 1862, in which Jackson’s main goal was to keep the Union forces away from the Confederate Capital of Richmond. The first engagement, the Battle of Kernstown  was a loss for Jackson. He had been misinformed, and had attacked thinking that the Union only had a small detachment. However, it was the only loss for Jackson. Tactically, the battle was a success, because the Union was tricked into thinking that Jackson had a much larger force, which prompted Lincoln to focus General Nathaniel Banks in the Shenandoah Valley and General McDowell’s 50,000 men near Fredericksburg, VA. The Shenandoah Valley campaign was a triumph of Stonewall’s use of surprise and maneuvering. This campaign gave the Stonewall Brigade the nickname of “foot cavalry,” for their ability to cover 646 miles (that’s 1,040 km) in 48 days.

As we continue through the war, this fascinating man will appear again…I can’t wait!

Thanks to Caleb for the idea for this blog, and thanks to my readers for being so patient with me. You people are the best!

Blogging the War- A History Essay on Sectionalism

Good evening, America,

Many apologies for the appalling lack of posts in the past month. From reenacting to an art show to school, I have been extremely busy. Thanks for your patience.

Tonight I would like to share an essay I had to write for my World History class on the effect of sectionalism in America. I hope you find this interesting,

The 19th Century in America was defined by sectionalism and its bloody result, the Civil War. The country born in the previous century from thirteen disjointed colonies had by the time of the Civil War become starkly divided between the industrial North and the agricultural South. The two sections were economically and ideologically different. The North was increasingly industrial and progressive, especially in New England. The South hhad little industry and was generally conservative. Many politicians in the South were concerned with states’ rights, which primarily came from the advancing argument over the fate of the ‘Peculiar Institution”- slavery.

Abraham Lincoln was elected President on the largely anti-slavery Republican ticket in the 1860 election. The South, whose economy was based on the slave industry, was afraid that Lincoln, whom they called a “black Republican” would outlaw slavery. In response, South Carolina seceded from the Union in December. Ten other Southern states would secede, and the Civil War, the costliest war in American history, had begun.

The result was a destroyed country, 600,000 dead, and entire states wrecked. The South still had not recovered a hundred years later, and in some ways is still fighting the war. To literally add insult to injury, following the Civil War was the Reconstruction period, which was also violent and hard on the nation. Today the South is recovering in some ways, but many areas are still poor. Growing up in the South means growing up in a defeated county.

Sectionalism is a defining factor in American history. It began the Civil War and nearly destroyed the country. The war it started changed the country, and its grammar. Before the Civil War, people said “he United States are.” Now we say The United States is. As the author Shelby Foote said, “That’s what the Civil War did. Made us an is.”

 

That’s all for now. Thanks for your patience, and I will be back later. I don’t know when the next post will be, but stay tuned through facebook.com .

 

A Movie Review- The Conspirator (2011)

Good evening America,

I return to write another article for the ridiculously slow-moving Blogging the War. I’m hoping things will speed up a bit, especially because we have some great “This Day in the War” posts coming up, and some profiles and an introduction to reenacting. Tonight I have a movie review for Robert Redford’s new film, The Conspirator.

The movie was one of two reasons that this blogger dragged the family to the theatre to see (the other was Atlas Shrugged, but that’s another story.) Robert Redford sends moviegoers on a dramatic course through the last days of the Civil War in a shattering courtroom drama. Every second of it kept me on the edge of my seat. It is a thrill for history and law buffs, and anyone who likes Robert Redford, the director.

We all know that on 14 April, 1865, John Wilkes Booth sneaked into the Presidential box in Ford’s Theatre and shot Lincoln, who died the next morning. Booth was chased through the Maryland and Virginia countrysides for twelve days, and was then gunned down. If you aren’t too familiar with this, check out my recent posts on the subject. The movie begins on the night of 14 April, with the assassination of Lincoln in Ford’s Theatre and the attempted assassination of Secretary of State William Seward by Booth’s accomplice, Lewis Powell.

What isn’t so familiar is the trail of eight ‘conspirators’ that embroiled Washington in the months following the Assassination. Of the eight, four were sentenced to hang, and one of those handed the death sentence was a middle-aged boarding house owner and Southern sympathizer, Mary Surratt. The Conspirator follows the trial and Mary Surratt, with her lawyer, Fred Aiken as they fight for survival in prison and a dingy courtroom. The history and detail is surprisingly sound, especially with the little details Redford slips in, like Seward’s life-saving neckbrace. There is only one noticeable flaw, and that is how a telegraph key is being used.

All in all, The Conspirator is a fantastic movie bound to please Civil War and courtroom drama buffs, and fans of Robert Redford. The history is no-holds-barred, showing just what the conspirators were subjected too. It raises some interesting questions about law and justice, along with history, but that of course is what Robert Redford is best at, like in All the President’s Men. My family spent a good two hours discussing the movie and the case. I hope that you do the same.

Thank you, Mr. Redford, for telling one of the darkest stories in American history.

I was shattered.

Today (And Yesterday) In the War- 26 and 27 April

Sorry for not posting yesterday. I had a Spanish II final. Today will also be extremely busy (library duty AND preparing for reenacting!), but in the lull of the battle I have a chance to dash off the latest “This Day in the War,” starting with 26 April.

26 April, 1865- John Wilkes Booth is shot and killed at the Garrett Farm in Port Royal Virginia by Sgt. Boston Corbett of the 6th New York. It ends a twelve-day chase for Lincoln’s murderer. Booth’s companion, the halfwit Davy Herold, is arrested and later hanged with Lewis Powell (who attempted to assassinate Seward), George Atzerodt and Mary Surratt.

Booth needn’t have gone through the trouble. On the day that he was killed, Southern General Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to Union General William Tecumseh Sherman in a little farm house near Durham, North Carolina.

And today happy birthday to General and later President Ulysses S. Grant, who was born today in 1822.

What happened today (27 April) in the War? In 1861, on this date, Abraham Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas coprus. And in 1865, the steamship Sultana explodes, killing 1,700 of its 2,400 passengers, most of whom were recently released Union prisoners.

The Assassination of Lincoln- Part Two

Decius: Shall no man else be touch’d but only Caesar?

Cassius: Decius, well urged: I think it is not meet,
Mark Antony, so well beloved of Caesar,
Should outlive Caesar: we shall find of him
A shrewd contriver; and, you know, his means,
If he improve them, may well stretch so far
As to annoy us all: which to prevent,
Let Antony and Caesar fall together.

Good evening America,

Today I continue a series on the assassination of Lincoln on 14 April, 1865. On to the action.

Lincoln’s Assassinations set off shockwaves seconds after Booth jumped to the stage. At the same time Booth was assassinating Lincoln, his accomplices Lewis Powell and David Herold were at the home of William Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State and friend. Seward lived in Lafayette Square near the White House. He was, at the moment, laid up in bed with a broken jaw, broken ribs and a neck brace, results of a nasty carriage accident.

Vice President Andrew Johnson was staying at the Kirkwood Hotel in Washington. George Atzerodt, a German caraige painter and one of Booth’s followers, had a room directly over Johnson’s. His job was to knock on Johnson’s door, and when the Vice President answered, shoot him.

If everything went well, Booth would decapitate the government.

Lewis Powell was a former Confederate soldier that had fought at the Battle of Gettysburg with a Florida regiment. Davy Herold was a half-wit druggist’s assistant that knew the Maryland countryside better than anyone. Powell would need Davy to lead him out of Washington to meet up with Booth.

The plan to kill Seward was simple. Powell would go to the door and act like he was a messenger from Seward’s doctor, Dr. Verdi. From there, he would get in and stab or shoot the bedridden Secretary, and make a quick exit, where Davy would be waiting. Only, things didn’t turn out that way.

First Powell had trouble with William, the colored servant. Then he forced his way through, up the stairs, where he was met by Frederick Seward, the Assistant Secretary of State and Seward’s son. After a few minutes of arguing, Powell pulled out the revolver and pointed it at Frederick’s head.

Meanwhile, George Atzerodt was getting drunk in the bar at the Kirkwood. He decided against killing Johnson.

At the same time this tragedy of errors was playing out elsewhere in Washington, Booth was escaping from Ford’s Theatre on horseback with a broken leg. He had succeeded in shooting Lincoln and stabbing Rathbone. Booth was now on his way to the Navy Yard Bridge. All of Washington knew that Lincoln had been shot. The Manhunt began.

Back to Seward. The gun pointed at Fred misfired. Instead of firing again, Powell began clubbing him hard. The impact broke his skull and he collapsed in a broken heap on the floor. Powell forced his way into the bedroom, where he would face Sgt. George Robinson, Seward’s nurse, and Seward’s daughter Fanny. Seward would be slashed up, stabbed several times, but saved by the bulky neck brace that supported him. Robinson and another Seward son, Augustus (who had woken up to the noise of his family being attacked) fought with Powell. Meanwhile Fanny threw open a window and began screaming for help. William the servant also was screaming bloody murder. This caused Davy Herold, until then waiting outside with the horses, to panic and run.

Lincoln never knew anything after the shot. However, all around, Washington and Ford’s Theatre were in chaos. There were three doctors. Everyone knew that the wound was fatal, but they couldn’t let the President die in a theatre. It was Good Friday, and a theatre was not a “respectable” place. They also knew that the ride to the White House would kill Lincoln. They took him across the street to a boardinghouse owned by a man named Petersen. There Lincoln, the sixteenth President of the United States and savior of the Union, died at 7.22 am on 15 April, 1865.

William Seward would recover from his injuries, although he would be scarred horribly. His sons, Frederick and Augustus, would also recover, as would Sgt. Robinson, who would be honored as a hero. However, several months later, Seward’s wife Frances, worn out from the shock of the attack, would die. The next year, his daughter Fanny succumbed to tuberculosis. Seward would remain Secretary of State under Johnson, and in 1867 would purchase Alaska from the Russian Empire.

Andrew Johnson would live to avenge the death of his successor. Powell, Herold, Atzerodt, and the owner of a boardinghouse in Washington where the conspirators met, Mary Surratt, were tried by a military tribunal and executed. Johnson would go on to be President in the first part of Reconstruction, which would prove to be almost as bad as the war itself.

John Wilkes Booth and Davy Herold escaped to Virginia, where they finally hid in a tobacco barn. After Herold surrendered to a New York regiment, Booth was shot and died hours later. Eight “conspirators” would be tried and sentenced- Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, Mary Surratt, Dr. Samuel Mudd, Michael O’Laughlin, Samuel Arnold, and Edman Spangler. The first three would be hanged. Mudd, O’Laughlin, Arnold, and Spangler were sentenced to prison on Dry Tortugas. O’Laughlin died there and the remaining three would be freed.

The wounds received on the night of 14 April, 1865, were nearly fatal to the country. Lincoln’s death sent off a lust for vengeance and without his magnanimous leadership, the country was plunged into an extension of its darkest days. Lincoln would become a revered figure, proving Stanton right when he said moments after Lincoln’s death- “Now he belongs to the ages.”

The Battle Cry of Freedom- An Old Essay

Good afternoon America,

I am sorry that part two of the Lincoln Assassination has not been posted yet. I am extremely busy. However, I do have the time to post an essay I wrote three years ago when I first became interested in the Civil War.

Over one hundred and forty years ago, our country was involved in a brutal struggle. Brother had turned against brother, father against son, families divided. It was the four bloodiest years in American history, some of the worst fighting seen by mankind. In a horrible time, drama unfolded like nothing ever had. It was tragic, more so than any tragedian could write. This tragedy is the Civil War, a war fought in not some far-away land, but in our fledgling country. In over a thousand places, from the valleys of Virginia, the shores of the Atlantic, the peaceful hills and fields of Pennsylvania, to the burning deserts of New Mexico, over a million lives were lost, rivers of blood spilled, families, states, and the country, torn roughly apart.

Men marched out to meet their enemy in some of the worst combat imaginable, bearing their standards with pride. The boys who bravely faced hell on earth. This is their story.  In this time, a relatively peaceful century was punctured with gunshots and screams, which echo today. Men, unknown before, became great heroes, thespians in an incredible play, one that we read over and over. We run down the Sunken Road in the Antietam battlefield, where some of the heaviest fighting occurred. We pretend that we are with our boys, whether in Gray or Blue, fighting the enemy. We climb Little Round Top in Gettysburg, imagining what it would have been like to fight along side the 20th Maine with Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, go full speed ahead at the side of Admiral Farragut, ride with Sheridan or Forrest, or hear Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address. The Bard was right when he said, “All the world’s a stage, and we are merely players.” From this time, there came many great men and women, players in a legendary play. Nothing compares to the battles of that war.

More men were killed at Shiloh than in the war in Iraq. It is something now inconceivable, the cost of the Civil War.  We see the romance, like Gone with the Wind, but do we see the pain and suffering, like in Shenandoah? Do we understand the pain of the whole country after the assassination of Lincoln? It is hoped we do, or we are like David, not interpreting Nathan’s story. It is a blood-stained manuscript, one that was written in blood and gunpowder, etched in the rock of history by millions of bullets. Could the resoluteness of Grant, the determination of Farragut, the leadership of Lee, or the sacrifice of our boys be forgotten, Gone with the Wind? No, the etchings of history are too deep. They are carved in Little Round Top, Lookout Mountain, the Bridge at Antietam Creek, Pea Ridge, and places to innumerable to recount here. It was more than just the facts and figures presented in history books. It was life, death, and the very thin line between them.

More then just names of men long gone. It is a story, both horrible and amazing, the bloody yet fascinating era that draws us. Men like Grant, Sherman, Lee, Lincoln, Jackson, down to privates like Sam Watkins and Elisha Hunt Rhodes tell their story. In the end, the long-awaited end, the Flag flew from Deer Isle, Maine, to the Rio Grande. And it will fly, forever more. The play is over, take a bow, my friends. Let us applaud them, they have preformed their parts with their hearts set. The curtains fall, and we relax. We cry when Lincoln dies, and Stanton utters the wonderfully perfect words “Now he belongs to the ages.” We jeer at the weak McClellan, we cheer when Grant demands unconditional surrender, or when Lincoln stands to give his Second Inaugural Address, and when he says the great words, “With malice toward none, with charity to all.” We occasionally laugh at the goings on of the soldiers, or something a commander says.  The play has three acts, called, appropriately enough, theaters. The Eastern, Western, and Tennessee. What legends they are. From Mobile to Gettysburg,  Shiloh to Fort Sumter, Washington to Richmond, there are many scenes. Many thespians, political and military, grace the stage. We find ourselves singing “Glory, glory, hallelujah, glory, glory hallelujah, glory, glory hallelujah, His truth is marching on!” or Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom or, Weeping, Sad and Lonely, waiting for When This Cruel War is Over.

Yes, we have come to love our Father Abraham, Uncle Billy, Uncle Robert, and our brothers, Elisha Hunt Rhodes, Sam Watkins, Washington Roebling, and Walt Whitman, the old man who recites poems for us while we heal. We have had our baptism of fire, earned a Red Badge of Courage. The tragedy is over, the curtains fall. Let us not forget this. It is real. No one could have written it. The Bard would b proud. And, we will go full speed ahead, Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom!

The Assassination of Lincoln- Part One

“How many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!”

Good evening America,

The quote above is from Act III, Scene one of Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar. The character speaking is Caius Cassius, one of the Roman senators that plotted to kill Julius Caesar, a dictator, on the Ides of March. Cassius says this after he, Brutus, and the other conspirators have stabbed Caesar to death.

Indeed it would be, Cassius. Today’s date, 15 April, marks the day that Abraham Lincoln died, the morning after being shot by John Wilkes Booth, a furious Southern sympathizer. Booth was a member of one of the most prestigious acting families of his day, the son of the great Shakespearean Junius Brutus Booth. He had been raised in Maryland, and unlike his brother Edwin, was a staunch supporter of the South.

John Wilkes Booth

Booth had been plotting to kidnap Lincoln and hold him hostage for the release of Confederate prisoners. This may sound absurd, but at the time, the South was desperate for soldiers and this seemed to Booth to be the only way. He had recruited a small band to help him in the plot- Samuel Arnold, Michael O’ Laughlin, Lewis Powell, David Herold, George Atzerodt, and possibly John Surratt.

Needless to say, the plot to kidnap the President didn’t succeed. On 14 April of 1865, a depressed and hungover John Wilkes Booth awoke in his Washington hotel room to defeat. The day marked the anniversary of the surrender of Ft. Sumter and would be another day of happy Washingtonians rejoicing in the end of the War. Needless to say, Booth was not happy,

Then he went to Ford’s Theatre on Tenth. He was a friend of the Fords, preformed there, and also picked up his mail at the theatre, on the site of an old church and a few hundred yards from the present day FBI Headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover Building. There, as Booth sat on the steps and read his mail, a theatre hand came down with thrilling news. Abraham Lincoln would attend that night’s performance of Our American Cousin. With him would be  the hero of the Union Army, General Ulysses S. Grant. This started a clock in Booth’s head. The plot to Kill Abraham Lincoln began. He only had a few hours to plan everything- not only the murder of Lincoln, but of Grant, Vice-President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. Seward. Grant would leave town early, but most of the plan would go through.

Fords Theatre (taken by the author)

President Lincoln arrived at the theatre late- the play had already begun. With him was his wife, Mary, and their replacement guests, Major Henry Rathbone and his fiancee, Clara Harris.

Booth had beforehand drilled a hole in the door to the box that the Presidential party was to occupy, a combination of the regularly partitioned boxes 7 and 8. He sneaked into the box now, armed only with a single shot Derringer and a Bowie knife. At the same time, George Atzerodt was to assassinate Johnson and Lewis Powell, an ex-Confederate soldier, was conning (and then forcing) his way into the house of Secretary Seward, who was bedridden from a shattering carriage accident.

Booth waited, counting down the lines, waiting for the right moment. It came with the hilarious line from Asa Trenchard, played by Harry Hawk.  “Don’t know the manners of good society, eh? Well, I guess I know enough to turn you inside out, old gal; you sockdologising old mantrap!” (Sockdologising means manipulative) And then, as the theatre exploded in laughter, Booth fired, inches from Lincoln’s head. In the seconds after the shot, no one knew what had happened. Then Henry Rathbone lunged at Booth, who slashed at him, cutting his arm. Booth jumped over the balcony of the box. His spur caught on the bunting in front of the box and he fell, awkwardly to the stage. Landing hard on his leg, he broke it.

The Presidential Box (taken by the author)

Brandishing his knife above his head, Booth shouted, according to some reports, “Sic semper tyrannis.” – Thus always to tyrants. Limping away, he may also have said, “The South is avenged.”

The confusion continued for a few seconds, and then the cry came from the box, from Henry and Clara- “Will no one stop that man?” “He has shot the President!”

To be continued.

Today in the War… It All Ended.

Good afternoon America,

Today I have an interesting short story to tell you. It’s about a man named McClean and how the Civil War ended in his house.

By April of 1865, the Virginia grocer had had it with the War. At the First Battle of Bull Run, a shell had landed in his front yard. He moved his family to another quiet Virginia town, Appomattox Court House. There he would be in for the shock of his life.

Union General Ulysses S. Grant had been fighting Robert E. Lee’s Confederate forces continually since the previous spring. At the beginning of Grant’s Eastern Theater campaign against Lee, the steadfast Ohioan had sworn that he planned to fight it out if it took all summer. He and Lee began the period now known to history as the Forty Days (which would include the Battle of the Wilderness) in the late spring of 1864. That year would see a series of bloody battles and long entrenchments. Little progress seemed to be coming from the supreme commander of the Union forces. Meanwhile, William T. Sherman had captured Atlanta and Savanna and was fighting Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston. Admiral David Farragut had captured Mobile Bay in Alabama and Lincoln won a second term in office.

Ulysses S. Grant. Photo by Brady.

Grant had worn Lee down. The Southern army had no hope of being resupplied, paid, or relieved. Unlike the Federals, the Southern government could not send more troops to the front.

Robert E. Lee

On April ninth, Lee wrote to Grant for “a suspension of hostilities pending adjustment of the terms of the surrender of this army.”

They met in the parlor of a house owned by Wilmer McClean. There they signed the agreement that ended their involvement in the Civil War. McClean could rightly say that the War began in his front yard and ended in his front parlor.  In the room at this time was his daughter’s doll. Called the Silent Witness, the doll was taken by a Union soldier as a souvenir. Eventually it was returned to the McClean family.  Also present was Robert Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, who would later bring a picture of Lee to his father.

That all happened on today’s date, 9 April, 1865.

Blogging the War- The Gathering Storm (and rain, and scattered showers)

Good evening America,

Another two weeks have gone by and have brought me to another article on the Civil War. Blogging the War picks up this week with a bang. Sort of. The last two posts discussed the causes of the Civil War, which are pretty controversial and probably pretty boring. Now for the exciting part- the first battle of the Civil War, the Battle of Bull Run.

The First Battle of Bull Run is also called the First Battle of Manassas, after Manassas Junction. It took place… wait a second, that’s pretty textbook. Let me back up and explain something very important about the Civil War. Many battles of the War have two names, like the Battles of Manassas (more on that later), the Battle of Antietam, and the Battle of Shiloh. The Battle of Bull Run is called the Battle of Manassas in the South. The Battle of Antietam (Maryland, 17 Sept. 1862) is also called the Battle of Sharpsburg, and Shiloh (Tennessee, 6-7 April, 1862) is called the Battle of Pittsburg Landing. The South tended to name battles after nearby towns (hence Manassas) and the North tended to name battles after a nearby body of water (Bull Run) or a certain location like the Shiloh Church.

Lincoln had called for 75,000 volunteers after the surrender of Ft. Sumter in April. Needless to say, there was a great rush to join the army. This call-up of troops would be the first of many controversial moves by President Lincoln over the course of the war. Lincoln, not Congress, declared war, and now Lincoln was pressing for a first engagement. So was the country. The highest ranking general, Brevet Lieutenant General Winfield Scott was, at the time of the beginning of the Civil War, 75 years old. He was older than the Constitution and the capital he was to defend.

Gen. Wifield Scott- "Old Fuss and Feathers"

Irvin McDowell

“Old Fuss and Feathers,” who was too fat to mount a horse and had been in the Army since the War of 1812 and had captured Mexico City in the Mexican War, was replaced by Brigadier General Irvin McDowell. Politicians and Washingtonians were pressing the War Department under Simon Cameron for a divisive battle in Virginia. McDowell didn’t want to affect a confrontation at that time. His men, he said, were too inexperienced and needed to be trained. Lincoln famously replied, “You are green, it is true, but they are green also; you are all green alike.” McDowell left Washington on 16 July with the largest army ever assembled on the North American continent- an estimated 35,000 men. On 21 July, the battle began.

Author’s note- I am currently laid up right now with an arm in a sling. I was going to go a little more detail, but it is hard to type with one hand. So, some quick facts for the on-the-run-historian.

• The first battle of the Civil War, the bloodiest war of the Western Hemisphere, closed with casualties of 4,878. Casualties include killed, wounded, captured, and missing. 
• It was a Confederate victory.
• Both sides thought that it would be a short conflict- it was supposedly a “Ninety Days’ War.”
• Prominent Washingtonians came out to the battlefield with picnic lunches to watch the battle.
• It was during this battle that Thomas J. Jackson, a soon-to-be-famous general in the Confederate Army, was given the nickname of “Stonewall” when General Bernard Bee said “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer. Rally behind the Virginians.” Jackson was a colonel at the time.
• This battle also saw the debut of Col. William T. Sherman, who launched a surprise attack on the Confederate flank.

The battle was up to that time the bloodiest in America. It would show the country two things-

1. Both armies would need more organization- good leadership, training, and logistics. Before the war, the US War Department managed only a small peacetime army. Most of the men who answered the call for volunteers were inexperienced. In the North, this lack of training was countered by a man named George McClellan. The South had some of the greatest commanders of the War, most of which came from West Point.
2. The War would not be short. Before the Battle of Bull Run, most people believed that the conflict would be brief. The battle proved that the North was willing to pursue aggressive action against the seceding states. This war would be fought primarily in the South.

We’ll see how this plays out… Next Week- George McClellan and the Grand Army of the Potomac.

Thanks for bearing with me.