Battlefield Atlas
American Civil War · 1861 Members only

First Bull Run, 21 July 1861

On 21 July 1861 Brigadier General Irvin McDowell's Union army, marching from Washington, attacked the Confederate armies of Beauregard and Johnston along Bull Run near Manassas Junction, Virginia. McDowell's flank march around the Confederate left nearly succeeded, but the arrival of Johnston's brigades by rail, the stand of Jackson's brigade on Henry Hill and late Confederate counterattacks turned the battle into a Union rout. The first major battle of the Civil War ended hopes on both sides of a short war, made Stonewall Jackson famous, and led Lincoln to call for long-term volunteers and put George McClellan in command.

Open the interactive map6 stages on modern satellite imagery and terrain, with 3D elevation

This battle is part of the full atlas, open to Patreon members. Free battles include Yorktown, Waterloo, The Alamo, Antietam, Little Bighorn, Belleau Wood, Omaha Beach, Ia Drang.

Battle of Bull Run (Kurz & Allison)
Battle of Bull Run (Kurz & Allison) — Kurz & Allison — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 21 July 1861, about 6 AM

    The flank march

    Beauregard's Confederates hold eight miles of Bull Run from the Stone Bridge to Union Mills, with Johnston's brigades from the Shenandoah, just arrived by rail, in reserve behind the lower fords. McDowell feints with Tyler's division at the Stone Bridge and Richardson at Blackburn's Ford while Hunter's and Heintzelman's divisions, 12,000 men, march north round the Confederate left to cross at Sudley Springs.

  2. 9:30–11:30 AM

    Matthews Hill

    Warned by a signal officer — 'Look out for your left, your position is turned' — Evans swings most of his men from the Stone Bridge to Matthews Hill and blocks Burnside's brigade as it comes down the Sudley road. Bee and Bartow reinforce him, but Porter's and Heintzelman's men lap round his flank and Sherman crosses Bull Run at an unguarded ford and strikes from the north-east. Shortly after 11:30 the Confederate line breaks.

  3. About noon

    A stone wall on Henry Hill

    The beaten Confederates stream back across the Warrenton Turnpike to Henry Hill, where Jackson's Virginia brigade has formed on the reverse slope with 13 guns on the crest. Bee, rallying his men, points to it: 'There stands Jackson like a stone wall.' McDowell pauses to bring up his brigades and sends Ricketts's and Griffin's batteries forward.

  4. 2–3 PM

    The fight for Henry Hill

    Ricketts's and Griffin's guns unlimber near the Henry House, 300 yards from Jackson's line. The 33rd Virginia, in blue uniforms, is taken for Union troops and overruns Griffin's guns at point-blank range; Stuart's cavalry scatters the Fire Zouaves. The batteries change hands several times as Union brigades attack up the slope one at a time; Colonel Cameron of the 79th New York is killed on the hill.

  5. About 4 PM

    Chinn Ridge

    Fresh Confederate brigades arrive from the lower fords and by rail: Early's and Elzey's (Kirby Smith's) brigades come in on the left and crush Howard's brigade on Chinn Ridge, while Cocke's brigade drives the last Union troops off Henry Hill. Beauregard orders a general advance.

  6. 5 PM to dark

    The rout

    The Union army falls back across Bull Run, first in order, then in panic when a shell overturns a wagon on the Cub Run bridge. Congressmen and spectators who came out from Washington are caught up in the flight. The exhausted Confederates do not pursue in force. Union losses: about 2,900; Confederate: about 2,000.

Paintings and photographs

Battle of Bull Run (Kurz & Allison)
Battle of Bull Run (Kurz & Allison) Kurz & Allison chromolithograph of the battle (1889). Kurz & Allison — public domain · source
Ricketts's battery on Henry Hill
Ricketts's battery on Henry Hill Sidney King's painting of Ricketts's guns fighting near the Henry House. Sidney E. King, National Park Service — public domain · source
Ruins of Mrs. Henry's house
Ruins of Mrs. Henry's house The Henry House, wrecked in the fighting; Judith Henry, 85, was killed inside. George N. Barnard, March 1862 — CC0 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) · source
Sudley Church
Sudley Church Sudley Church, near where the flank march crossed Bull Run; it served as a hospital. George N. Barnard, 1862 — public domain (Library of Congress) · source
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson Jackson earned his nickname on Henry Hill. Nathaniel Routzahn, 1862 — public domain · source

Sources and method

First Bull Run (First Manassas), 21 July 1861. Positions are placed on the battlefield as mapped in OpenStreetMap and the Manassas National Battlefield Park (Stone Bridge, Sudley Springs Ford, Matthews and Buck Hills, the Stone, Henry and Robinson Houses, Chinn Ridge, and the Jackson, Bee, Bartow and Cameron memorials), following the standard account of the battle (the National Park Service, Wikipedia, and Hal Jespersen's maps). Blocks stand for brigades. Positions on the main battlefield are good to roughly 100–200 m; the lower-ford brigades are approximate. Pictures from Wikimedia Commons.