Alan Rousseau, age 13, of Birmingham, Ala., for his question:
WHAT WAS THE BATTLE OF BULL RUN?
The Battle of Bull Run, also called the Battle of Manassas, was actually two battles of the American Civil War. The First Battle of Bull Run was the earliest important engagement of the war between the states.
The battles were fought in Virginia near Bull Run, a small stream about 30 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. That first battle was fought on July 21, 1861 between a Union army of about 28,000 under the command of Gen. Irving McDowell and a Confederate army of about 33,000 commanded by Gen. Pierre Beauregard.
Both sides were ill trained for war, but a Union order to blockade the South and public pressure in the North led to a march, accompanied by many spectators, toward the Confederate capital at Richmond.
At Bull Run, the Union troops encountered the Confederate forces coming from their base at Manassas, about three miles south of the stream.
The five hour battle started with a Union assault resulting in a Confederate retreat to Henry House Hill. There, a part of a brigade commanded by Gen. Thomas Jonathan Jackson held back the Union troops until 9,000 reinforcements under Gen. Joseph Johnston arrived.
The Union general, Robert Patterson, had had earlier failed to restrain Johnston and the combined Confederate force easily routed the Union army. Tte stubbornness of his defense earned for Jackson the nickname "Stonewall."
Although the flight of the Union army did not end until the troops reached Washington the Confederate forces were too disorganized to pursue. The Union army lost about 2,900 men killed, wounded, captured or missing while the Confederates lost about 2,000.
The Confederate victory encouraged the South and spurred the North to greater effort.
The Second Battle of Bull Run was fought on two days, August 29 and 30, 1862. The Confederates won.
The First Battle of Bull Run, demonstrating as it did the effectiveness of the Confederate army, changed the status of the conflict from a rebellion to a civil war.
The site of both Bull Run battles is preserved in in the Manassas National Battlefield Park.
The Second Battle of Bull Run involved a Confederate army of some 50,000 men under Gen. Robert E. Lee with about 35,000 Union troops under the direction of Gen. George McClellan and General John pope.
Stonewall Jackson with 23,000 troops, came eastward through Thoroughfare Gap and approached Pope's forces from the rear. The Union troops turned and, with Bull Run at their rear, faced Jackson's army. Jackson was speedily reinforced by Lee's troops and by a corps under Gen. James Longstreet.
The first day of battle was inconclusive. On the second day Longstreet drove the Union army from the field. Pope retreated northward and was joined by McClellan.