In
July, 1862, General John Pope, commander
of the Army of Virginia, decided to try a capture Gordonsville, a
railroad junction between Richmond and
the Shenandoah Valley. Pope selected
Nathaniel Banks to carry out the task.
Robert E. Lee considered Gordonsville to
be strategically very important and sent Thomas
Stonewall Jackson to protect the town. On 9th August, Jackson
defeated Banks at Cedar Run. Pope now ordered George
McClellan army based at Harrison's Landing to join the campaign
to take the railroad junction. When Lee heard this news he brought
together all the troops he had available to Gordonsville.
On 29th August, troops led by Thomas
Stonewall Jackson and James Longstreet,
attacked Pope's Union Army at Manassas,
close to where the first battle of Bull
Run had been fought. Pope and his army was forced to retreat across
Bull Run. The Confederate Army pursued
the Army of Virginia until they reached Chantilly on 1st September.
The Union Army lost 15,000 men at Bull
Run. General John Pope was blamed for
the defeat. A staff officer later recalled that "Pope was entirely
deceived and outgeneralled. His own conceit and pride of opinion led
him into these mistakes." Relieved of his command Pope was sent
to Minnesota to deal with a Sioux uprising.
(1)
General John
Pope,
proclamation issued to his troops after being appointed commander
of the Army of Virginia (June, 1862)
I
have come to you from the West, where we have always seen the backs
of our enemies; from an army whose business it has been to seek the
adversary, and to beat him where he was found; whose policy has been
attack and not defense. I presume that I have been called here to
pursue the same system and to lead you against the enemy. It is my
purpose to do so, and that speedily. Meantime I desire you to dismiss
from your minds certain phrases which I am sorry to find so in vogue
amongst you. I hear constantly of "taking strong positions and
holding them", of "lines of retreat", and of "bases
of supplies". Let us discard such ideas.
(2)
Sarah
E. Edmonds
wrote about her experiences at the first Battle
of Bull Run in her book Nurse and Spy in the Union Army
(1865)
Our surgeons began to
prepare for the coming battle, by appropriating several buildings
and fitting them up for the wounded - among others the stone church
at Centreville - a church which many a soldier will remember, as long
as memory lasts.
The first man I saw killed was a gunner. A shell had burst in the
midst of the battery, killing one and wounding three men and two horses.
Now the battle began to rage with terrible fury. Nothing could be
heard save the thunder of artillery, the clash of steel, and the continuous
roar of musketry.
I was sent off to Centreville, a distance of seven miles, for a fresh
supply of brandy, lint, etc. When I returned, the field was literally
strewn with wounded, dead and dying. Men tossing their arms wildly
calling for help; there they lie bleeding, torn and mangled; legs,
arms and bodies are crushed and broken as if smitten by thunderbolts;
the ground is crimson with blood.
(3)
