Many pressured President Lincoln to bring a quick end to the rebellion of the Southern states. Lincoln pressed for action despite his hesitancy that his troops were not trained well. General Irvin McDowell proposed a plan that he would march his army of 35,000 around Washington and attack the Confederates defending the Confederate capital, Richmond. Despite the disadvantaged the North almost won on that day; however, it was a decisive Southern victory. On July 21, the Union troops charged across the stream in front of the Confederates and left them very confused. However, the Confederates finally decided to take charge in the afternoon once the blood curtailing Rebel Yell was used. As the Union line began to melt away the retreat transformed into mindless rout as the Northern troops rushed back to Washington and leaving behind their equipment along the way.
The end of the war showed that both the Union and the Confederacy were unprepared. It foreshadowed the switching of Union commanders throughout the Civil War. The First Battle of Bull Run cost about 3,000 union casualties and cost the Confederates about 1750 casualties. On the Confederate side, accusations took place between Johnston and President Jefferson Davis over who was to blame for the failure to pursue and crush the enemy after the battle. For the Union, Lincoln removed McDowell from command and replaced him with George B. McClellan, who would restrain and reorganize Union troops defending Washington. They were then known as the Army of the Potomac once he trained them into a disciplined fighting force.
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| General Irvin McDowell |
It was the first major land battle of the American Civil War
ReplyDeleteI believe because of this, there were many technical changes made in the military leaders and important figures that perhaps determined the Unions victory.
ReplyDeleteOne of the major advantages that the South (Confederate states) had was strong generals such as Robert E. Lee.
ReplyDeleteI believe that this battle was a perfect example of many of the battles that occurred during the Civil War, what i mean is that most of the battles were not planned out they were just put together quickly without any complete thought which would just result in many deaths on both sides the Union and the Confederate.
ReplyDeleteThe south did have powerful leaders and this is the battle that demonstrates it.
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