I’m Mr. Beat
Here’s the story of a picnic that got interrupted by a major American Civil War battle.
I recently went to the site of it. It’s quite a lovely area, honestly. About 30 miles southwest
of Washington, D.C. in northern Virginia. Today, it’s so peaceful, but on July 21,
1861, it was the site of horrifying death and destruction. But let’s back up a bit. Three
months prior was the Battle of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina. A new country had
seceded from the United States called the Confederate States of America. On April 13,
1861, some rebel Confederate soldiers had successfully taken over an American fort,
marking the beginning of the American Civil War . It was after the bombardment of Fort
Sumter that all of a sudden there was widespread support from both the North and South to fight.
President Abraham Lincoln declared that the Southern states that seceded had broken the law,
essentially calling it an insurrection. In response, 750,000 men volunteered to
fight the rebels. Many of them had no military experience whatsoever.
Americans seemed pumped up, man. Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune proclaimed
“Forward to Richmond! The Rebel Congress must not be allowed to meet there on the 20th of July!” By
the way, Richmond, Virginia, was now the capital of the newly formed Confederate States of America.
Many Americans believed that capturing Richmond would quickly end the insurrection. By July,
thousands of volunteers had camped in Washington, D.C.,
excited to fight as part of what became known as the Union Army, or Northern Army.
Lincoln, realizing he had to take bold action,
picked an inexperienced major named Irvin McDowell to lead around 35,000 men
down to Richmond. It would be the largest field army ever gathered on the North American continent
up to that point. However, McDowell had little time to train his men.
Also, the Confederate Army had a spy in D.C., Rose O’Neal Greenhow, who secretly gathered information
about McDowell’s plans and got those plans to the Confederate General P.G.T. Beauregard.
On the morning of July 16, 1861, Americans cheered McDowell and his departing soldiers
as they marched out to capture Richmond and quickly end the war. As they left,
spectators famously followed them, and yes, many of them had picnic baskets.
It would be a long trip, a 7-hour carriage ride away after all,
and you gotta have food. Oh, and you gotta have dessert. Many of the brought pie. And wine. You
can’t forget wine. Many of these spectators were wealthy, and many were politicians.
Yep, actual members of Congress were there. Like the Ohio Senator Ben Wade, Massachusetts Senator
Henry Wilson, Kansas Senator James Lane, Iowa Senator James Grimes and Connecticut Senator
Lafayette Foster. Most of these spectators just assumed the whole thing would be quick and easy.
It would not be quick and easy. Before we get into what happened next,
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Ok, back to the picnic….I mean...battle. After two days of marching in heat and humidity,
the Union Army took some time to rest in the town of Centreville, Virginia. Meanwhile,
Confederate forces, led by P.G.T. Beauregard, had built up just south of the Bull Run River,
near Manassas Junction, the junction of the Manassas Gap Railroad and the Orange and
Alexandria Railroads. It was a critical area for the Confederate Army to defend
since the railroads would help transport reinforcements for them.
It’s important to remember that the
Confederate War strategy was basically just to win the war by not losing. In other words,
prolong the conflict to convince the North it’s not worth it to keep fighting.
McDowell heard that Beauregard might get reinforcements, so decided to act quickly,
trying to find a way to outflank Beauregard’s approximately 22,000 men. At 2:30am,
on the morning of July 21st, McDowell sent troops toward Bull Run River. One division,
led by General Daniel Tyler, marched 8,000 men right toward the Confederates. Meanwhile,
two other divisions of about 12,000 men, led by Generals David Hunter and Samuel P.
Heintzelman marched around to get to the rear of the Confederate army.
As the sun came up, believe it or not, the Confederate soldiers attacked the Union soldiers
first as they came up on their rear, and at first they were successful under General Barnard
Bee. However, more Union troops came, and they dominated thanks to superior numbers at Matthews
Hill. I mean, it was basically 20,000 Union troops versus less than 3,000 Confederate troops. The
Confederate forces retreated back to a defensive position on Henry Hill. However, by noon,
more reinforcements began to come in for the Confederate Army under General Joseph Johnston,
and they were able to slow the Union advance. They were the first to arrive to a battlefield by rail,
by the way. One group was led by General Thomas Jackson. Jackson posted his soldiers
on the reverse slope of Henry Hill where they were shielded from direct fire, and he
even had time to set up 13 short-range cannons since the Union troops were slow to advance.
Still, the Union had cannons of their own. They came across the Henry House and fired upon it,
assuming Confederate sharpshooters were in it. Well, they weren’t. Actually, civilians were.
Judith Henry, an 84-year old widow who was bedridden, and her daughter Ellen. Also a teenage
slave, Lucy Griffith. Boy were they surprised to find their house caught up in the middle of a huge
battle. One cannon hit inside the house, killing Judith. She would
be the battle’s only known civilian fatality. The house you’re seeing right now is actually
a new home the Henry family built after the war since the first one got destroyed.
Indeed, at Henry Hill was the most intense fighting of the battle,
where most of the casualties were. Soldiers were beginning to freak out,
and even some generals were like...ummm….why are so many people dying? General Bee rushed
over to General Jackson and yelled “The Enemy are driving us!” Jackson supposedly replied
“Then, Sir, we will give them the bayonet.” Now supposedly Bee was so impressed with Jackson’s
lack of fear and his ability to prevent his men from retreating that he went over and told his own
“There is Jackson standing like a stone wall. Let us determine to die here and we will
conquer. Rally behind the Virginians!” Later, that earned Jackson the nickname “Stonewall”
Jackson. Bee was shot in the stomach just after this, by the way, and died the next day.
After Colonel Jeb Stuart’s cavalry joined Jackson’s men, they were able to capture several
Union cannons. Around that point, both sides were close enough to shoot each other with rifles.
It got pretty bloody at this point. Cannons changed sides multiple times, but like I said they
were all so close that at this point the cannons were a bit overrated. Still, led by fresh troops
arriving at around 4pm, the Confederate soldiers were basically able to capture all the cannons
and this demoralized the Union troops. Not only that, when fresh Union troops arrived,
they were immediately outflanked by Confederate troops. This creates a panic,
and the Union troops began to retreat. At first the retreat is orderly, but then it’s all chaos.
Meanwhile, all those spectators I mentioned earlier were far enough away to not exactly
know what was going on in the battle, but soon they began to see all the thousands
of Union soldiers fleeing for their lives. “Turn back, turn back, we’re whipped,” Union
soldiers cried as they ran past them. Senator Ben Wade was like “nuh-uh,” blocking a road,
picking up a rifle, and aiming it at any soldier who dared try to run away.
Senator Henry Wilson was a bit nicer. He reportedly gave sandwiches to the retreating
Union soldiers. Senator James Grimes nearly got captured. New York U.S. Representative Alfred Ely
wasn’t so lucky. He got captured and was stuck in a Confederate prison for nearly six months.
Generally, though, the spectators were in shock, and simply horrified. How could this happen?
It was so chaotic with folks
trying to retreat back to DC that people lost their horses and had to travel back on foot.
Henry Wilson had to go back on a stray mule since a Confederate shell destroyed
his buggy.The Confederate troops, by the way, decided to hold back and not attack DC.
No doubt, this was a decisive Confederate victory, and really lifted their spirits,
maybe making them too cocky later on. But they still suffered a lot of casualties.
387 Confederate soldiers were killed, 1,582 wounded, and just 13 missing while 481 Union
soldiers were killed, 1,011 wounded, and 1,216 missing. Nearly 18,000 men and boys-
many of whom didn’t know what the heck they were doing, clashed on the battlefield that day.
Ultimately, McDowell’s ambitious plan for a surprise flank attack was poorly executed.
The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the First Battle of Manassas, was the first major
battle of the American Civil War. And it was the most surprising because it marked a sudden
realization that this war was going to suck. It was proof that the war would not be won by one
grand battle. It was going to be a much longer and bloodier war than anyone had previously expected.
One year later, many of the same soldiers who had fought in this battle met at the same location
in the Second Battle of Bull Run, or Second Battle of Manassas. That was also a Confederate victory.
Eventually an estimated 750,000 soldiers would die in the Civil War. That was 2.5%
of the population of the country. If it happened again today that would be more
than 8 million people, or about the entire population of the entire state of Virginia.
And that’s not counting all the civilian deaths. Americans learned on July 21,
1861, that this would not be a war fought like previous ones. It was a modern war, with modern
weapons. Especially guns that were more accurate, could shoot further, and do a lot more damage.
It’s now the 21st century, and when so much death and destruction hasn’t happened for so
long in a society, it’s easy to forget that modern warfare ain’t no picnic.
sorry
i don't make military history videos that often on my channel
and so this one was a little different there's two reasons for that by the way one i'm just not
as passionate about military history as i am about political history and other things and two there
are plenty of military history channels already out there on youtube if you know what i mean but
if you like this video and you would like to see me make more military history videos in the future
let me know in the comments and finally this video is dedicated to mrs beat's uncle
wes byers who recently passed away he uh was always really supportive of my channel
and he was one of the first ones who truly believed in my channel's success long before
most others so i always was thankful for that we miss you uncle wes this one was for you