The Greatest Civil War Battles: The First Battle of Bull Run (First Manassas)

After the Battle of Fort Sumter in April 1861 ignited the Civil War, many in the North expected a relatively quick victory, including Abraham Lincoln. Days after the smoke had cleared in Charleston Harbor, the Lincoln Administration pushed for a quick invasion of Virginia, with the intent of defeating Confederate forces and marching toward the Confederate capitol recently relocated to Richmond. Despite the fact commanding general Irvin McDowell knew his troops were inexperienced and unready, pressure from the Washington politicians forced him to launch a premature offensive against Confederate forces in Northern Virginia. 

McDowell's strategy during the First Battle of Bull Run was grand, and in many ways, it was the forerunner of a tactic Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson, and James Longstreet executed brilliantly on nearly the same field during the Second Battle of Bull Run in August 1862. McDowell's plan called for parts of his army to pin down Beauregard's Confederate soldiers in front while marching another wing of his army around the flank and into the enemy's rear, rolling up the line. McDowell assumed the Confederates would be forced to abandon Manassas Junction and fall back to the next defensible line, the Rappahannock River. In July 1861, however, this proved far too difficult for his inexperienced troops to carry out effectively.