According to the battle plan, the attack will begin on the 18th. Two days of marching over a distance of 30 miles is enough.
At this time, Johnston was far away at Harbors Ferry, twice as far away from Menassas as Washington. Even if his actions were known to the enemy, as long as nothing unexpected happened, the Northern Army would increase the number of troops with twice the enemy's strength.
With absolutely superior firepower, victory is guaranteed.
Because he set out eight days late, Ross's intelligence did not play a big role. McDowell set off with great fanfare, followed by countless Washington residents, dressed up and setting off, treating the battle as a victory exercise for the North.
, I am afraid that if I miss this time, I will not have the chance to watch the game.
The entire military operation was chaotic from the beginning. The already narrow road was blocked by civilian vehicles. Undisciplined soldiers walked and stopped whenever they wanted. They often ran to the roadside to rest in the shade, or
Pick strawberries to quench your thirst.
McDowell himself was extremely cautious, searching constantly along the way, and only moved forward boldly after confirming that there were no enemies. He only walked 5 miles on the first day.
Because the roads were too congested, the 4th Division simply returned to the city to camp.
McDowell simply ordered the division to serve as rearguard and set up defenses along the way.
By the 18th, because the baggage had not caught up, McDowell ordered the troops to stop and wait for the baggage. At this time, they were still 6 miles away from Manassas.
After receiving Beauregard's request for help, the experienced Johnston immediately organized his team, abandoned Harris Ferry, and returned to Menassus to aid.
In order to confuse the aging General Patterson so that he would not dare to follow and avoid a flanking attack, he ordered Jeb Stewart to lead the cavalry in an action, making Patterson think that the Union army was going to attack him.
The young and brave James Ever Brown Stuart was waiting for this order, so he simply led the cavalry to make a large detour.
Patterson was originally a politician, but now he used his power to become a general without any military experience.
Suddenly there were traces of the enemy on all sides. Patterson was frightened and retreated continuously. He estimated that the enemy army had 26,000 men, more than his own 18,000 men, and they were about to attack him.
Instead of refusing to follow Washington's order to advance to hold back the Confederate army in front, they instead made a strong request to Washington for reinforcements.
The unhurried McDowell believed that Patterson could hold off Johnston, and even if he failed, Johnston would not be coming soon.
Because according to conventional calculations, Johnston was ordered to prepare for at least one or two days before leaving the stronghold. It would take at least four days to walk 57 miles to Menassus. By this time, the battle was over.
Johnston was worthy of being a veteran in the army and knew that time is the key to victory. He used a method that no one had ever used before, bringing his troops to the train track and then loading his four brigades onto the train one after another.
It only took 25 hours. On the evening of the 19th, its leading force, the 1st Virginia Brigade, arrived in Manassas.
On the 20th, Beauregard deployed the brigade on the defensive line near Harry's Heights on the rear left side of the front as a reserve. The brigade's commander was a ruthless Virginian, Thomas Jackson, 37 years old at the time.
Jackson experienced the Mexican War and was a professor at the Virginia Military Academy before the Civil War.
After the Civil War began, Jackson was sent to Harris Ferry to train infantry, and was immediately appointed brigade commander. The brigade he trained in a short period of time, as an unknown person, could be said to be the most disciplined brigade in the armies of both sides at the time.
McDowell finally led the army to the Bull Run River. In order to protect logistics, he left 5,000 men of the 4th Division to defend the retreat along the way.
From the Running Bull River to Washington, congressmen, businessmen and ordinary people who came to watch the battle sat in carriages, carrying food and champagne, and lined up happily for several miles.
It is generally believed that this is the only opportunity to watch the battle. If it is missed, the war will end here.
An unprecedented large army in the New World, with a total of more than 60,000 troops staring at each other along the banks of the Running Bull River, a big battle is imminent.
Beauregard was indeed McDowell's classmate, as he expected.
McDowell's original plan was indeed to cross the river from the lower ford. His leading unit, Taylor's Division, arrived at the ford on the 18th and had a small-scale gunfight with the Confederate army on the opposite side. McDowell was convinced that the Confederate army had heavily fortified the ford in advance. It no longer works, so I decided to find another way.
On the 19th and 20th, he let the troops rest on the spot and sent engineers to observe the terrain of the Benniu River.
Based on his observations, he formulated a battle plan that looked very good: at 2:30 in the morning, Taylor's 1st Division marched to the stone bridge of the Runniu River, and opened fire at dawn to attract the enemy's attention in a feint attack.
At the same time, Hunt's 2nd Division and Huntmann's 3rd Division moved to the enemy's left flank, wading across the river to bypass the enemy's rear.
The 5th Division plus a brigade of the 1st Division and most of the artillery remained in position to defend.
McDowell's plan was based on the fact that Johnston could not come and he had twice the enemy's strength.
But by the 20th, there were various signs that Johnston's troops were on their way if not yet arrived, and McDowell tried like an ostrich to force himself to believe that Patterson could successfully delay Johnston.
Regardless of whether Johnston comes or not, McDowell's attack plan cannot be changed because Washington is looking forward to a battle. At the same time, the 90-day volunteer period has begun to expire. Two of his regiments have disbanded and gone home. If there is any further delay, In a few days, the entire regiment would disappear, and McDowell had no other choice.
On the north bank of the Benniu River on the 19th and 20th, the Northern Army camp, which was within the range of the Southern Army's artillery fire, was like a lively picnic ground, with unrestrained soldiers and civilians coming in and out, beaming with joy, and there was no atmosphere of war at all.
Exactly the same caution as his classmate McDowell, Beauregard changed his previous plan to attack first while the enemy was not yet firmly established, and ordered the troops not to take any action before the 21st, and to wait until Johnston came to join them. It's a waste of opportunity.
On the evening of the 20th, Johnston finally arrived. According to the order of the army, Johnston should be in command.
Beauregard introduced his plan, which was exactly the same as his classmate McDowell's, attacking the enemy's left flank with his right fist.
Johnston, who was tired all the way, said it was already dark and would conduct field observations tomorrow, and agreed to obey Beauregard's command.
Beauregard waited excitedly for dawn so that he could plan his attack. Unfortunately, the Union army had already begun to move at this time, but fortunately the movement of the Union army did not follow McDowell's timetable at all.
Unfortunately, Ewen McDowell's superior plan could not be implemented as scheduled by his army, which was not much better than a ragtag army. Taylor's 1st Division was scheduled to set off at 2:30 in the morning, but it was not only late but also slow.
The 2nd and 3rd Divisions, which were responsible for the main attack, had to let the 1st Division move forward according to the plan. As a result, they waited by the roadside for two or three hours until the 1st Division passed and moved out of the way before starting to move forward.
The circuitous route measured by the engineers was twice as short as the actual route, and it was a narrow road that could not be passed smoothly by large troops.
The troops had to stop and clear the road as they walked, and did not arrive at the river until 9:30 instead of 7:00 as scheduled, giving the enemy enough time to be vigilant.
The 1st Division's feint attack was so fake that after a few bluffs there was no movement.
At 8 o'clock in the morning, the Confederate brigade commander Ivins, who was defending the stone bridge, realized that the enemy might outflank the unruly left wing, so he took it upon himself to leave four companies to guard the bridge. At 9 o'clock, the remaining troops moved to the left and deployed on Matthew Heights.
Line of defense.
Beauregard was also aware of the threat from the left wing at this time and ordered Bartow's, Bee's and Jackson's brigades to move to the left. However, he still believed that the main force of the Northern Army was on his right wing and was still prepared to attack the right wing with all his strength. However, the threat from the left wing made him
No order to attack was given.
The order to move left was given too late. The troops moved in a panic and had no time to stand firm. Especially the Jackson Brigade, which had come all the way from afar, half of the soldiers were still suffering from motion sickness.
Beauregard was in disarray, and the first step of McDowell's plan was successful. At this time, the enemy's lines were in chaos, and victory was in sight.
The main force of the Northern Army successfully crossed the Bull Run River. Not far away, they discovered that there was an enemy defense line on Matthew Heights. After a period of moderate panic, they launched an attack. Ivins's brigade, which was not full of troops, soon couldn't hold on.
Fortunately, Bi's Brigade and Bartow's Brigade arrived at 11 o'clock and were deployed on the right wing of Evans' Brigade. The two sides started a fierce battle on Matthew Heights. The Northern Army's attacks came one after another, and the left wing of Evans' Brigade was soon broken through.
At 11:30, Taylor's division finally found that there were only a few hundred enemies guarding the bridge. They attacked and captured the bridge. After crossing the bridge, they appeared behind Bartow's brigade. Evans's brigade and Bartow's brigade retreated first, and Bi's brigade
Then they retreated, and the entire left wing of the Confederate Army collapsed.
The fierce gunfire from the left wing finally woke up Beauregard from the dream of attacking on the right wing. Upon seeing this, Johnston quickly took over the command and ordered the entire army, including the reserve team, to quickly reinforce the left wing. However, the troops moved slowly until
Matthew Heights was lost, and only 600 men rushed to the front line.
After two hours of fighting, McDowell, who shouted "Victory, victory, today is ours!" believed that victory was within reach and did not let the troops pursue the victory. Instead, he spent two hours regrouping the disrupted troops.
However, within these two hours, the battlefield situation changed.
After the left wing was launched, Jackson received an order to move to the left, but the order did not specify where to deploy, so he directly deployed his five regiments on Harry Heights.
Harry's Heights can be said to be Manassas's last line of defense. If it falls, the Northern Army can commandeer and take Manassas directly. The Southern Army will either flee south or surrender.
The 1st Virginia Brigade stood nervously on Harry's Heights, looking at the battlefield in the distance.
General Bi, who had retreated, came here and shouted to Jackson: "General, the enemy is pursuing us."
A cold but firm answer came from the heights: "We'll give them a taste of the bayonet."
On the smoke-filled and ever-changing battlefield, Jackson's almost ruthless calmness rekindled the Confederate army's courage to fight.
The three retreated brigades of the Confederate army reorganized at Harry's Heights and prepared for battle. Beauregard and Johnston also arrived here to personally command the battle.
At two o'clock in the afternoon, McDowell completed his reorganization and gathered 18,000 men to prepare for the attack on Harry Heights.
The artillery of the Northern Army placed the cannons on the front line. Jackson, who was an artilleryman, saw that the enemy's artillery was too far forward. After consulting with Stewart, who had just arrived to confuse Patterson, he launched a joint infantry and cavalry attack and captured the enemy in one fell swoop.
Enemy's mountain artillery.
McDowell left most of his artillery on the other side, so the Union attack lost the support of artillery fire.
In the next two hours, the Northern Army launched regiment-based charges on Harry's Heights again and again. Jackson's Brigade bore the brunt and stubbornly withstood the enemy's attack.
However, the numerical superiority of the Northern Army always threatened the Confederate defense line. Johnston did his best to send all the troops he could mobilize to Harry's Heights. The Confederate brigades except Jackson's brigade, which was stubbornly stationary on Harry's Heights,
, everything was in chaos, and the officers were running around on the battlefield, trying their best to reorganize their troops.
General Bee's Georgia brigade was also in disarray. He drew his sword and shouted to his troops: "Look, Jackson stands there like a stone wall! Let us resolve to die here, and we will win!"
Before he finished speaking, a bullet knocked him down.
McDowell desperately encouraged the Union soldiers to charge, but he only used 1 or 2 regiments instead of a brigade for each charge, and even forgot to use reserves. In the end, the Union offensive momentum ended.
At 3:30 in the afternoon, the troops deployed by the Confederate Army on the right wing finally arrived to join the battle. The two sides were evenly matched, and the battlefield situation completely changed.
The two armies formed a melee. During the melee, the troops from both sides rushed back and forth like headless flies. Since the two armies did not have uniform uniforms and flags, they often charged with their own troops, and soon found themselves mixed into the enemy's troops.
.
Joseph Johnston's last support force, Smith's brigade, arrived in Menassas by train at noon. Johnston ordered Smith to rush directly from the train to the front line. The brigade reached the far left flank of the Confederate defense line at 4 o'clock and immediately launched an attack.
The addition of fresh troops caused the Northern Army, which had begun operations in the middle of the night and fought on the march for a long time, to collapse across the board.
Seeing this, Beauregard ordered the entire army to counterattack, and the Confederate soldiers rushed down Harry's Heights with shouts.
Seeing that the situation was over, McDowell ordered a retreat at 4:30. By this time, the troops had already discarded their armor and rushed to cross the river, running towards Washington.
The defeated troops and the crowds who came to watch the excitement made the roads crowded. McDowell, who lost confidence, rejected his men's suggestion to camp on the north bank of the river, leaving one brigade behind and quickly retreated to Washington.
Beauregard and Southern President Davis, who came all the way from Richmond, appeared at Harry's Heights amidst the cheers of the soldiers. The joy of victory filled the faces of every southern soldier.
The logistics troops of the Confederate Army quickly transported the mountains of captured guns, ammunition and equipment back to Richmond to equip the troops.
The largest battle in the New World up to that time ended with the victory of the Confederate Army. The Northern Army suffered nearly 3,000 casualties and the Southern Army suffered about 2,000 casualties. At that time, it was considered to be a river of blood. No one expected more.
The bloody battle is still to come.
News of the failure reached Washington almost immediately.
Some even suggested that Lincoln temporarily escape to Philadelphia.
This suggestion was flatly rejected by Abraham.
From Washington to the north, Philadelphia, New York, and Boston are all major cities in the north.
These are all port cities that developed earlier.
It is also the current center of the shipbuilding industry in America.
Now the North is also vigorously building ironclads.
The industry in the north is developed, and even if you don't have the technology to build ironclads, you can also build them in America.
In fact, the Milesians were still ahead in the construction of steam battleships.
It's just that before, they didn't focus their main energy on the construction of the army.
This attack on Richmond on the Eastern Front failed.
It also made Lincoln realize that the strength of the Southerners should not be underestimated.
I was a little blindly confident at first. The North's strength was very strong, but it had not been fully transformed into combat effectiveness.