First Bull Run Ends Hopes of a Quick War
An untested Union army breaks and runs after Jackson's brigade holds Henry Hill like a "stone wall"
Quick facts
- Location
- Manassas Junction, Virginia
- Union commander
- General Irvin McDowell
- Confederate commander
- General P.G.T. Beauregard
- Result
- Confederate victory
What happened
Pushed by Lincoln to move before Confederate forces could combine, General Irvin McDowell marched roughly 35,000 raw Union volunteers out of Washington on July 16 to attack Beauregard's Confederates at Manassas Junction, Virginia. McDowell's flanking attack on July 21 initially drove the Confederates back, but reinforcements arrived by rail and a Virginia brigade under Thomas J. Jackson held firm on Henry Hill. Confederate General Barnard Bee, rallying his own wavering troops, reportedly pointed to Jackson's line and shouted that Jackson stood "like a stone wall," giving Jackson the nickname that stuck for the rest of the war. A late Confederate counterattack broke the Union line, and McDowell's retreat collapsed into a panicked rout back toward Washington, tangled with the wagons and carriages of civilian spectators who had come out from the capital to watch.
Why it matters
The battle, the first large engagement of the war, killed any expectation on either side of a short conflict decided by one battle, and it convinced Lincoln that suppressing the rebellion would require a much larger, better-trained army and a longer commitment of resources than anyone had planned for in April.
How we know
The National Park Service's Manassas battlefield history documents the Henry Hill fighting and the origin of Jackson's nickname from Confederate officer accounts; the American Battlefield Trust corroborates troop numbers and the rout's aftermath.
Sources
- Manassas National Battlefield Park, National Park Service. The Battle of First Manassas (First Bull Run) · Reputable sourcenps.gov · The domain "nps.gov" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- American Battlefield Trust. Bull Run Battle Facts and Summary · Reputable sourcebattlefields.org · The domain "battlefields.org" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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