28. Not ready
•The 75,000 volunteers that
Lincoln had asked for in the
days following Fort Sumter
to make sure that “the
Union of these States is
perpetual” were not ready to
fight.
29. Why?
•The difficult thing for many
of them was that they had
never served in the military
before and had to be trained
in all aspects of fighting in a
war.
30. Why?
•By July, 1861, the 90-day
volunteers Lincoln had
asked for were getting
close to the end of their
enlistment and had yet to
really see any action.
31. Why?
•During this time, the
Confederates had moved
their capital to Richmond,
VA, less than 100 miles from
Washington, D.C. and
believed to be an easy target
by the Union.
32. Why?
•Cries of “On to Richmond”
and “Forward to
Richmond” dominated the
public and the media,
forcing the Union to send
in their ill-prepared troops.
33. Why?
•The First Battle of Bull Run
(or First Manassas) started on
July 21, 1861 after taking the
Union soldiers four days to
march the 25 miles to get
there.
34. Why?
• Manassas Junction was
considered important because it
served as a railroad connection
between Washington and
Richmond and control of that
line could increase the speed at
which troops were moved.
35. Why?
• The fact that the battle is known
by two names shows just how
divided the nation was, as the
South named battles for local
towns, while the North for some
natural object, usually bodies of
water.
36. The battle
• On the morning of July 21,
1861, General Irwin McDowell
threw his untrained troops into
battle against Confederate
troops led by Generals P.G.T.
Beauregard, the hero of Fort
Sumter, and Joseph E.
Johnston.
38. The battle
• As the Confederates retreated,
they were joined by
reinforcements from the Virginia
Military Institute under the
leadership of Thomas Jackson,
who immediately told the
retreating soldiers to “give them
the bayonet.”
39. The battle
• One Confederate leader
motivated his troops by saying
“There is Jackson standing like a
stone wall. Let us determine to
die here, and we will conquer,”
and throughout the rest of the
war Jackson was known as
“Stonewall” Jackson.
40. The battle
•As the pursuing Union troops
reached the top of the hill on
which Jackson was standing,
they received a tremendous
amount of gunfire and began
to retreat.
41. The battle
•This retreat became known
as the “Great Skedaddle” as
the Union retreat was largely
unorganized and almost
chaotic, and continued for
many of the soldiers all the
way to Washington.
42. The battle
•In the retreat, the Union
soldiers ran over many
Washingtonians, who had
made the relatively short
journey by carriage and
brought a picnic lunch to go
and see the war.
43. The battle
•Fortunately for the Union,
the Confederate troops
were worn out by the
battle and also somewhat
disorganized and failed to
follow up on the retreat.
44. The battle
•The Confederates had won
the first major land battle of
the Civil War, which served
notice to the Union that this
would not be as easy as they
might have thought.
