First Battle of Bull Run | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2018-12-05

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
First Battle of Bull Run


00:02:32 1 Background
00:02:41 1.1 Military and political situation
00:04:41 1.2 Irvin McDowell
00:06:06 1.3 Intelligence
00:06:53 1.4 McDowell's plan and initial movements in the Manassas Campaign
00:11:31 1.5 Prelude to battle
00:12:27 2 Opposing forces
00:12:36 2.1 Union
00:14:46 2.2 Confederate
00:17:21 3 Battle
00:17:29 3.1 Morning phase
00:17:38 3.1.1 Matthews Hill
00:21:12 3.2 Noon phase
00:21:20 3.2.1 Henry House Hill
00:28:15 3.3 Union retreat
00:30:22 4 Aftermath
00:30:31 4.1 Brief observations
00:32:19 4.2 Detailed casualties
00:33:40 4.2.1 Union
00:34:00 4.2.2 Confederate
00:34:15 4.3 Effect on the Union and subsequent events
00:36:44 4.4 Effect on the Confederacy
00:38:29 4.5 Confederate victory: turning point of the American Civil War
00:38:40 4.6 "iBull Run/i" vs. "iManassas/i"
00:39:18 4.7 Confusion between the battle flags
00:39:48 4.8 Conclusions
00:40:22 5 Additional battle maps
00:40:31 5.1 Gallery: the First Bull Run hour by hour
00:40:42 6 In popular culture
00:42:17 7 Sesquicentennial
00:43:08 8 Battlefield preservation
00:43:46 9 See also



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SUMMARY
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The First Battle of Bull Run (the name used by Union forces), also known as the First Battle of Manassas (the name used by Confederate forces), was fought on July 21, 1861 in Prince William County, Virginia, just north of the city of Manassas and about 25 miles west-southwest of Washington, D.C. It was the first major battle of the American Civil War. The Union's forces were slow in positioning themselves, allowing Confederate reinforcements time to arrive by rail. Each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops in their first battle. It was a Confederate victory, followed by a disorganized retreat of the Union forces.
Just months after the start of the war at Fort Sumter, the  Northern public clamored for a march against the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, which was expected to bring an early end to the rebellion. Yielding to political pressure, Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell led his unseasoned Union Army across Bull Run against the equally inexperienced Confederate Army of Brig. Gen. P. G. T. Beauregard camped near Manassas Junction. McDowell's ambitious plan for a surprise flank attack on the Confederate left was poorly executed by his officers and men; nevertheless, the Confederates, who had been planning to attack the Union left flank, found themselves at an initial disadvantage.
Confederate reinforcements under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston arrived from the Shenandoah Valley by railroad, and the course of the battle quickly changed. A brigade of Virginians under the relatively unknown brigadier general from the Virginia Military Institute, Thomas J. Jackson, stood its ground, which resulted in Jackson receiving his famous nickname, "Stonewall". The Confederates launched a strong counterattack, and as the Union troops began withdrawing under fire, many panicked and the retreat turned into a rout. McDowell's men frantically ran without order in the direction of Washington, D.C.
Both armies were sobered by the fierce fighting and many casualties, and realized that the war was going to be much longer and bloodier than either had anticipated. The Battle of First Bull Run highlighted many of the problems and deficiencies that were typical of the first year of the war. Units were committed piecemeal, attacks were frontal, infantry failed to protect exposed artillery, tactical intelligence was nil, and neither commander was able to employ his whole force effectively. McDowell, with 35,000 men, was only able to commit about 18,000, and the combined Confederate forces, with about 32,000 men, committed only 18,000.