Startled, Michigan senator Zachariah Chandler tried to block the road to stop the retreat. ![]() "Turn back, turn back, we're whipped," Union soldiers cried as they ran past the spectators. ![]() They heard a loud noise and looked around to see the road filled with soldiers, horses, and wagons-all headed in the wrong direction. Near the battlefield, a group of senators was eating lunch. Soldiers threw down their weapons and ran from the battlefield, sweeping up civilians in the retreat. "I saw the 12th New York regiment rush pell-mell out of the wood," commented one reporter. When Union generals finally called retreat around 4:00 p.m., the frightened soldiers fled for their lives. The Union army performed well that morning, but by early afternoon the Confederates had brought in reinforcements, forcing an intense battle over a space known as Henry Hill. They quickly learned that war can be unpredictable. Bull Run soon became known as the "picnic battle." Among the civilian ranks were some of Congress's most powerful senators-many of whom had called for just such a campaign. Men, women, and even children came to witness the predicted Union victory, bringing along picnic baskets and opera glasses. On the morning of July 21, 1861, civilians from Washington rode out to Centreville, Virginia, to watch a Union army made up of very green recruits-they signed up for a 90-day war-march boldly into combat. Horace Greeley's New York Tribune summed up the sentiment with repeated headlines that demanded: "Forward to Richmond!" Such outcries pressured Lincoln to launch an offensive. They demanded a quick campaign to prevent the Confederate Congress from convening in Richmond. They traded rumors that President Abraham Lincoln was delaying military action in order to forge a compromise with the South. Northerners called it Bull Run, after a stream running through the battlefield.Īfter a Confederate artillery fired on Fort Sumter in April, members of Congress complained about the Union army's inactivity. Southerners called it the Battle of Manassas, after the closest town. senators to witness the battle in person. The first land battle of the Civil War was fought on July 21, 1861, just 30 miles from Washington-close enough for U.S.
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