The First Battle of Bull Run The First Battle of Bull Run is also known as the Battle of Manassas. This important Battle was fought on July 21st 1861, near the city of Manassas located in Prince William County in the state of Virginia; at an important railroad junction located twenty five miles west of Washington DC. The conflict was between the Union which were the northern states and the Confederates which were the southern states. It was the first major battle of the Civil war and it lasted 4 years, from 1861 to 1865. Two months after the confederate fired up Fort Sumter, the north press and public was very anxious for the Union army to march towards Richmond as planned in order to meet the Confederate Congress on July 20. President Abraham Lincoln ordered General McDowell to prepare an offensive army that would attack decisively the Confederate forces in order to end the war quickly. Lincoln thought that this could be his last chance to the massive military force before he lost it.
The main reason why all this conflict started was because of General Beauregard and his army attacked Fort Sumter battle in Charleston Harbor, North Carolina. It was very devastating, so the Union began to plan.
The north commanded by General McDowell and the south commanded by General Beauregard and General Johnston began preparing for war by marching their armies around Manassas Junction. Their main plan was to stop General Beauregard and his army from continuing their attacks on the north, so they decided to march thirty miles to Bull Run and hopefully defeat the confederates, but neither side spent much time on preparing their troops, thinking the war would be easy and would end very quickly. They didn’t imagine what a long, bloody war was ahead of them. It was the beginning of the end.
The Confederate troops began the attack with more than 00,000 people along a river