The Second Battle of Manassas was fought in Northern Virginia from August 28-30, 1862 near the town of Manassas and Bull Run Creek. It had been just over a year since the Confederate Army defeated the Union Army in this same location. Once again the area would see a Confederate victory.
On August 28, 1862 General Robert E. Lee ordered General Stonewall Jackson to engage Union Major General John Pope in battle. It had become Pope’s objective to protect the Union Capital. To engage Pope was a risk for the Confederates because General Jackson’s army was far fewer in number, by approximately 20,000 men. However, the Confederates attacked Pope’s army and engaged in battle for several hours. The day ended with neither side able to claim victory.
General Pope believed this was his chance to defeat the great General Stonewall Jackson. However, he was unaware that at this time, General Longstreet and his army of 28,000 had joined General Jackson in the battle. General Porter joined General Pope, however he did not believe he was in position to battle and so did not come to the aid of his comrade. Both armies fought fiercely on August 29 with heavy casualties.
Still unaware that General Longstreet had joined General Jackson and wanting to secure victory against the man who earned his name on this very spot the year before, General Pope made a tactical error on August 30 that cost him the battle. He depleted his ranks on the left flank in order to secure victory on the right. Longstreet’s Army attacked the Union army on its weak side. The Union Army was not able to hold against this surprise attack, despite the aid of General Porter, and was forced to retreat. However, unlike the year before, the Union army was able to retreat in an organized fashion and reached the safety of the fortified capital.
Although the second Battle of Manassas was not as decisive a victory for the Confederate States as the first, it was a measure of the supreme command of General Robert E. Lee. With a much smaller army, he was able to defeat the Union soldiers with fewer casualties. The Confederate Army suffered roughly 9,000 casualties while the Union Army suffered roughly 15,000 casualties.
September 17, 1862, proved to be a monumental moment in The War Between the States. The battle that day had the power to determine the likely outcome of the war and the life of a nation. Confederate General Robert E. Lee had just succeeded in defeating the Union Army at the second Battle of Manassas and he assumed it would take several weeks for the Union army to recover from their losses. Rather than maintain a defensive strategy, Lee decided to force the Union to fight the war on his terms. He planned his first attack on Northern soil, initiating battle in Maryland.
Lee hoped to achieve several objectives with this strategy; He hoped to give Virginia a chance to recover from battle and his troops to have access to new food and supplies, He hoped to put his Army in a position to attack the Capital of the United States, He hoped to persuade Maryland, a slave state loyal to the Union, to join the Confederacy, and he hoped to gain the support of England and France.
The two armies engaged in battle on September 17, 1862 in Maryland near the town of Sharpsburg and Antietam Creek. Thus the Union name for the battle is the Battle of Antietam and the Confederate name for the battle is the Battle of Sharpsburg. Unfortunately for General Lee, a scout of Union General George B. McClellan had discovered a copy of Lee’s battle orders. The Union army was well prepared.
Lee’s Confederate troops fired upon advancing Union soldiers, but many broke through confederate lines. Throughout the day both side encountered musket and artillery fire. The Confederates could not hold on. General Stonewall Jackson provided artillery cover as General Lee’s troops retreated across the Potomac River.
The battle was the bloodiest in American history. The Union forces suffered 12,400 casualties and the Confederate forces suffered 10,320 casualties. The 22,720 casualties incurred in this one day battle were greater than the deaths in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War and the Spanish American War combined.
President Lincoln took the Union Victory as on opportune time to issue his first Emancipation Proclamation on September 22. The Proclamation declared the Confederate States must cease fire by January 1, 1863 or Lincoln would free all slaves in Confederate territory. Many historians believe that this proclamation led to England’s decision not to support the Confederacy. Lee failed to achieve his objectives and the outcome of the Civil War had virtually been decided.
In July of 1861, the War Between the States had just barely begun. In February of that year, the Confederate States of America believing they had a right to secede from the United States of America, named a president (Jefferson Davis) and formed their own constitution. The Confederate Army began to seize control of the military forts in the states of the Confederacy. Fort Sumter in South Carolina, however, had to be taken by force, and after 34 hours of bloodless battle the fort was surrendered to the South. It became obvious to the residents of the Northern States that only a war could keep the nation together. Under heavy public pressure President Lincoln declared an insurrection and called for volunteers to join the military.
On July 16, 1861 an unprepared Union militia of 30,000 men marched from Washington to Manassas, Virginia to attack the Confederate troops protecting the railroad junction there. Defeating the Confederates at this location would open the way for Union soldiers to descend on Richmond, the capitol of the Confederate States. The Confederate spy network warned General Beauregard of the upcoming attack. General Beauregard readied his 22,000 troops and General Joseph Johnston joined him with 9,000 troops. The attack was not a well kept secret. Many residents of Washington followed the Union army to watch the defeat of the South.
Both sides believed the war would be one battle long with little bloodshed. The battle of Manassas was fought on July 21, 1861. During the early morning hours the Union army charged across Bull Run creek. Fighting raged throughout the day and Confederate soldiers were forced back up Henry Hill. Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson arrived with reinforcements. His troops broke the Union right flank and held firm as if they were a stone wall, earning Jackson the nickname which he carried through life and infamy; “General Stonewall Jackson”. The Union quickly retreated back to Washington, however the Confederate soldiers were too tired and unorganized to pursue and capitalize on their gain. Even so the Confederate Army was victorious for a second time in this young war.
Though both sides entered the battle feeling the war would be short lived, they finished the battle knowing otherwise. The United States Army suffered 2,950 casualties in deaths, injuries and prisoners of war. The Confederate States Army suffered 1,750 casualties.