9781422278949

Early Battles

ABOVE: View of the Bull Run river. OPPOSITE: Virginia State Memorial, Seminary Ridge at the Gettysburg battle site. OVERLEAF: The First Battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861 The American School. Lithograph published in 1889. Collection of the New York Historical Society.

to feed in more troops, as did the Confederates. In the confused fight, Union troops were slipping away, back across Bull Run. Soon it turned into a rout. The Confederates had the field, seizing 5,000 muskets, half a million cartridges, 28 artillery pieces, countless horses, and masses of clothing and equipment. The disaster cost McDowell his job and Major General George McClellan almost immediately replaced him. It was first blood to the Confederacy, the Union blockade

of the South having been declared but not enforced. Early attacks on the Southern coastline were working, however, the seizure of the entrance

to Port Royal, South Carolina, being particularly effective in November 1861.

For both sides it appeared that the control of the Mississippi river, as far as the Gulf, was essential. The first major battle took place on August 10 at Wilson’s Creek, 10 miles (16km) from Springfield. Outnumbered, the Union forces were decisively defeated.

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