BULL RUN, BATTLE OF. Thirty-five miles from Washington, on a little creek known as Bull the Union and Confederate troops met on Sunday, July 21, 1861, in the first battle of the Civil War. The news of the resulting defeat of the Union troops, as it flashed over the wires the next day, caused the people of the North long to remember that day as " Dark Monday." The North had expected the conquest of the South to be an easy matter. Troops were enlisted for only three months as it was thought that the war would be over in that time. A mob of volunteers had been gathered at Washington with little idea of what war meant. Officers had tried to make them into an army, but that takes time, and the press and people were impatient. The cry, " On to Richmond," the Confederate capital, had been raised on all sides, and the army command had yielded to the popular de mand. On July 16 General McDowell had left Wash ington with his command, and five days later had met the Confederates near the little village of Manassas on Bull Run. When people in Washington heard that a battle was being fought, they hurried out to watch it as though on a holiday excursion.
At first the Union troops had seemed successful, but in the afternoon fresh forces joined the Confed erates. The Union army was out-numbered and the men became frightened. Some started to retreat and other troops without orders began to leave the field.
The retreat soon became a flight. They threw away their knapsacks, their guns, their coats, everything that could impede their progress. The one idea of soldiers and civilians alike seemed to be to get back to Washington and to safety.
The effect on the South of the " battle of Manassas" (as they called it) was to convince them that one of their soldiers was worth half-a-dozen of those of the North, and this conviction was shared by many persons in Europe. The defeat was a great humilia tion to the North, but really it was a blessing in disguise. The North learned the bitter truth that the war was not to be a short one, and they began to prepare for it in earnest. Their people and govern ment were determined to wipe out the disgrace suf fered at the battle of Bull Run.