9781422285947

The Civil War

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hold the nation together. The people of Charleston, on the other hand, were determined to break the nation apart. On April 12, 1861, the guns spoke for the first time, and the Civil War began. The First Battle The first skirmishes were fought in and around Washington, D.C., but the first real battle came on July 21, 1861. Union General Irwin McDowell brought 35,000 federal troops out of Washington and across the Virginia countryside. He was met by Confederate Generals Pierre G. T. Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston, leading an equal number of Southern troops. The North called it the Battle of Bull Run, after a stream that meandered between the positions of the two armies. The South named it the Battle of Manassas, after an important railway junction that was close by. On July 21, 1861, the day of the First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas, it was intensely hot in northern Virginia. The men on both sides carried heavy equipment. Even worse, they were nearly blinded, temporarily, by the smoke coming from gun cartridges. Though there were not many trained soldiers on either side, both sides fought with great determina- tion and intensity. Confederate Brigadier-General Thomas Jackson earned his famous nickname during that battle. A fellow Confederate general, seeking to encourage his men, shouted, “Look men! There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!” Stonewall Jackson’s determination in the face of the enemy encour- aged the other Confederates, and by midafternoon the Union soldiers

The men who came forward and volunteered for both North and South in the first year of the war, were known as the “Boys of Sixty-One.” This does not mean they had an easy time on the battlefield, however.