One hundred fifty years ago today, Union and Confederate forces were locked in battle in an area of Northern Virginia known
as Manassas. Only 13 months before the two armies had been there, fighting the first
major engagement of the war of Southern secession.
This time, both armies were blooded, with General
George B. McClellan’s Peninsula
Campaign having worn on for several months with ground between the York and James rivers changing hands, and then falling back into the original
possessors. A lot of bodies left along the way; nothing much decided.
Except that it was pretty clear that McClellan wasn’t
what you’d call a real battlefield commander.
The command of the (Confederate) Army of Northern
Virginia had fallen to Robert E. Lee, after Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the
Battle of Seven Pines. Lee, deciding that McClellan and the Army of the
Potomac weren’t all that much of a threat on the peninsula, turned to face the
newly-formed (Union) Army of Virginia under John Pope. Pope was advancing down
from Washington, hoping to take pressure off of McClellan and maybe even
threaten Richmond.
Lee saw this as an opportunity to defeat the two
Northern armies in detail—knock off Pope and then turn back to crush
McClellan, since the latter hadn’t given any signs of moving swiftly in any
direction for any cause.
The Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of
Virginia converged in the area around Manassas on the 28th, and then continued the next day, with various units maneuvering in the God-awful heat. (You cannot imagine how hot and humid it is in Northern Virginia in late August. and then with their woolen uniforms, the rush of battle; it must have been absolute hell.) Pope, in the tradition of so many Union generals, completely misread the
activities of Lee’s subordinates and assumed various forces were ripe for
bagging. They weren't.
This back-and-forth continued throughout that day and the next. Finally, on the evening of the 30th, Pope ordered a
retreat (which was orderly, not like the complete rout of the previous year).
Lee’s forces were exhausted and low on ammunition; they didn’t pursue.
Once again, Confederates held the ground at Manassas.
Around 10,000 Union soldiers were killed and wounded (of 62,000 engaged);
Confederates casualties came to 8,300 (of 50,000). Washington was protected,
Richmond abandoned as a target.
And as Lee decided to take the campaign into Union
territory, Lincoln was forced to bring back McClellan. In less than a month the
two armies would meet at a Maryland town called Sharpsburg.
