The Second Battle of Bull Run was one of the most decisive Confederate victories of the American Civil War and a major turning point in the conflict’s Eastern Theater. Fought from August 28th to 30th, 1862, near Manassas in northern Virginia on the same ground as the First Battle of Bull Run the previous year, the battle resulted in a crushing defeat for the Union army and opened the door for the first Confederate invasion of the North.
What Was the American Civil War?
The Second Battle of Bull Run took place during the second year of the American Civil War, one of the most devastating conflicts in the history of the United States. The Civil War was fought between the Northern states, known as the Union, and the Southern states, known as the Confederacy, from 1861 to 1865. At its heart, the war was driven by the issue of slavery, which had divided the country for decades. By the summer of 1862, the war in the Eastern Theater had produced a long and frustrating stalemate for the Union. General George B. McClellan had attempted to capture Richmond, the Confederate capital, through a campaign on the Virginia Peninsula, but Confederate General Robert E. Lee had launched aggressive counterattacks that drove McClellan’s army back. With McClellan’s campaign stalled, President Lincoln had created a new army under a different commander and ordered it to attack Lee from a different direction. It was this new army and its new commander that Lee would face and defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
Second Battle of Bull Run – Background and Causes
In June of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln formed the Army of Virginia and placed Major General John Pope in command. Pope was an aggressive general who had achieved success in the Western Theater and had been brought east specifically because Lincoln was frustrated with McClellan’s caution. Pope’s orders were to defend Washington, protect the Shenandoah Valley, and press south toward the Confederate capital at Richmond. His army of approximately 70,000 troops represented a serious threat to Lee, particularly if Pope and McClellan were able to combine their forces into a single massive army. Lee recognized that he had to destroy Pope’s army before this could happen.
Lee sent General Stonewall Jackson north with approximately 12,000 troops in July to monitor Pope’s movements, and later reinforced Jackson with an additional 12,000 men under General A.P. Hill. By mid-August, with McClellan’s Peninsula Campaign clearly finished, Lee sent Lieutenant General James Longstreet and a further 30,000 troops to join Jackson, and Lee himself took overall command of the offensive against Pope. Lee’s bold plan was to outflank Pope and cut him off from Washington before reinforcements from McClellan’s army could arrive. Jackson was tasked with leading the flanking march and striking at Pope’s supply lines.
Second Battle of Bull Run – Jackson’s March and the Raid on Manassas
In one of the most celebrated marches of the entire Civil War, Jackson led his corps on a grueling 55-mile march around Pope’s right flank over two days, moving so swiftly that he became known as “foot cavalry” for his infantry’s ability to cover ground at remarkable speed. On August 26th, 1862, Jackson’s forces descended on the massive Union supply depot at Manassas Junction, where they found enormous quantities of food, weapons, ammunition, and equipment. Jackson’s hungry soldiers ate and took what they could carry, then burned the rest of the depot to deny the supplies to Pope. The destruction of his supply base sent Pope into confusion. He spent the next day ordering a series of marches and counter-marches trying to find Jackson, who had pulled his forces back to the old Bull Run battlefield and concealed them in the woods along an unfinished railroad grade that offered a strong defensive position. Meanwhile Longstreet’s corps, moving to join Jackson, broke through light Union resistance at the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap on August 28th, opening the way to reunite the two halves of Lee’s army.
Second Battle of Bull Run – Major Events
On the evening of August 28th, Jackson’s forces attacked a Union column near Brawner’s Farm east of Gainesville, drawing Pope’s attention and revealing Jackson’s position along the unfinished railroad grade. Pope became convinced he had trapped Jackson and concentrated his forces for a decisive assault. He was unaware that Longstreet’s corps had already arrived and was positioned on Jackson’s right flank, extending the Confederate line significantly to the south.
On August 29th, Pope launched a series of powerful assaults against Jackson’s defensive position along the railroad grade. Jackson’s men absorbed the attacks throughout the day, fighting off repeated Union charges at close range with heavy casualties on both sides. One Union soldier described the fire from the Confederate positions as so intense it was like walking into a wall of bullets. Despite the ferocity of the fighting, Jackson’s line held. Pope ordered General Fitz John Porter to attack Jackson’s right flank with his corps, but Porter, believing Longstreet’s forces were in his path, did not advance. This decision would later result in Porter being court-martialed and dishonorably discharged from the army.
On August 30th, Pope renewed his assault against Jackson, still apparently unaware that Longstreet’s 30,000-man corps was positioned on the Confederate right. When a massed Union assault struck Jackson’s weakened line, Longstreet launched the largest simultaneous assault of the entire Civil War, sending nearly 30,000 men crashing into the exposed Union left flank. The attack was overwhelming. Union forces that had been pressing Jackson suddenly found themselves struck from an unexpected direction by an enormous force. The Union left collapsed and the retreat began. Union troops fell back to Henry House Hill, the same ground where Stonewall Jackson had earned his nickname at the First Battle of Bull Run thirteen months earlier, and mounted a desperate rearguard defense that slowed the Confederate pursuit long enough to prevent a complete rout. Under cover of darkness Pope pulled his army back across Bull Run and retreated toward Washington.
Second Battle of Bull Run – Aftermath
The Second Battle of Bull Run was a decisive Confederate victory. Union casualties totaled approximately 13,824 killed, wounded, or missing, compared to approximately 8,353 Confederate casualties. Pope placed the blame for the defeat on Fitz John Porter’s failure to attack on August 29th, and Porter was subsequently court-martialed. Pope himself was relieved of command shortly after the battle and never held another combat command during the war. McClellan, whose hesitancy to send reinforcements to Pope had contributed to the Union’s difficulties, was restored to command of the combined Union forces despite Lincoln’s deep frustration with him.
For Lee, the victory was a springboard. Within days of the battle, on September 5th, 1862, Lee led his Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River into Maryland, launching the first Confederate invasion of the North. This invasion would culminate in the Battle of Antietam on September 17th, 1862, the single bloodiest day in American military history.
Significance of the Second Battle of Bull Run
The Second Battle of Bull Run stands as one of Robert E. Lee’s greatest military achievements. Outnumbered and fighting far from his supply base, Lee used bold maneuver, aggressive action, and the extraordinary marching ability of his army to defeat a Union force significantly larger than his own. The battle drove the Union completely out of northern Virginia and gave the Confederacy its greatest opportunity of the war to achieve a decisive victory on Northern soil. For the Union, the defeat was a humiliating blow that demonstrated the continuing difficulties in finding effective military leadership in the Eastern Theater. The battle also set the stage directly for the Battle of Antietam, making it one of the most consequential engagements of the entire Civil War.
