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This article describes the events of the First Battle of Bull Run, which was the final scene in this movie. One thing that stood out in this article that was also depicted in the movie is where it says that a regiment was "utterly cut to pieces." In the final scene of the movie, it shows the land covered with the bodies of those who had died in the battle, especially ones from the side of the Union. There were few that walked away from it.

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You Found It! An amazing Civil War newspaper with a description of the Battle of Bull Run

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Something that I think was added into the movie for dramatic license was at the end when Shelby Peyton walks onto the Union side of the battle field after it is over and holds his dead friend's body while everyone else was gone. I think, in real life, he would have had to leave the battlefield after it was over and go with his fellow soldiers. Also, I doubt it would've been safe to go to the enemy's side of the battlefield, even when you think it is over. This part was definitely added for emotional impact and dramatic effect.

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Battlefields of the Civil War - Peter Cozzens

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Battlefields of the Civil War - Peter Cozzens

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If you enjoyed the movie "Class of '61", particularly the final scene where there's a battle, I recommend this book for you. It provides information and describes all of the Civil War battles. It includes maps and pictures depicting what happened in the battles. If you are someone interested in such things, I recommend this book for you.

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I would not recommend the movie "Class of '61" to anyone unless you're having trouble sleeping. I actually fell asleep 15 minutes into it my first time viewing this movie because of how slow the plot is. Each scene is unbearably long and every conversation between characters takes forever to get through. It feels like the movie could've been half the length but the director needed it to be longer so instead of adding more plot or something interesting they simply made everything last longer. Therefore, unless you enjoy movies that go at a snail's pace, I would not recommend this film for you.

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The main idea of this movie was how the Civil War broke people apart. It shows how a small Virginian town is torn apart by the war. Families fight each other and friends lose bonds because of it. The movie also showed how much it effected the country emotionally with all of this internal fighting. The movie ends with Shelby Peyton, a Confederate soldier, on a battlefield crying and holding the dead body of his friend from West Point who fought on the side of the Union. This showed how the war tore apart close relationships, even when people didn't want to be against each other.

The movie mainly follows some men who were classmates at West Point, a military academy, who end up fighting on opposite sides of the war post-graduation. The men all meet again at the First Battle of Bull Run, fighting on opposite sides of the war. The movie also follows the life of Lucius, a slave belonging to the main character Shelby Peyton. Lucius tries to run away with his pregnant wife, but she has complications with her pregnancy and they go back to the Peytons' where Shelby presents Lucius with his freedom papers.

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This movie taught me that Virginia wasn't really all on one side or the other of the war. I thought most of the states were "all in' on either the side of the Union or the side of the Confederacy. This movie showed how much division there was in Virginia alone, with families having opposing opinions and friends fighting on opposite sides of a battlefield from each other.

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This movie, Class of '61, was slow-moving. I felt like the scenes, especially in the beginning, were too long and the director just needed to get to the point. I think the relationship between Lucius and Shelby needed to be addressed more. You know that Lucius is Shelby's slave, but not that they were close growing up until you get close to the end of the movie, and by that point it wasn't really relevant anymore.

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This is a photograph of the destroyed stone bridge at Bull Run. This contributed to my knowledge of the Civil War and to my movie because it showed how much damage that single battle did to its surroundings. The movie showed the Battle of Bull Run, but it was more focused on the characters and what was happening to them rather than showing the big picture. This photograph helps to show that not only were these people affected, but the places around them were as well.
This is where I got the photo: https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/hh/15/hh15e.htm

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This article helped me to understand who was who in the movie. By explaining what people did in the battle, I can now understand what was happening in that scene better. Instead of everyone just being a jumble of guys fighting, I can associate names with the people and know the purposes of what was going on. While I watched it, I didn't really know who was who and what was going on, but now looking back I can understand what was really going on in that scene and in real life.

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This article was most recently revised and updated by

First Battle of Bull Run, also called First Battle of Manassas , Battle of First Manassas, or Manassas Junction, (July 21, 1861), in the American Civil War, the first of two engagements fought at a small stream named Bull Run, near Manassas in northern Virginia. (Civil War battles often had one name in the North, which was usually associated with a prominent nearby physical feature, and another in the South, which was usually derived from the town or city closest to the battlefield.) The strategic significance of the location lay in the fact that Manassas was an important railroad junction.

The armies gather

In the days following the Battle of Fort Sumter, the Union capital at Washington, D.C., strengthened its defenses and secured its railway connection with the North through Baltimore via the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) railway. Washington's other significant rail line, the Orange and Alexandria, ran southwest to Lynchburg, Virginia; control of this line would be much contested in the days to come. It was joined at Manassas Junction, 30 miles (48 km) southwest of Washington, by the Manassas Gap railway from Strasburg in the Shenandoah Valley.

American Civil War Events

Robert E. Lee, commanding the Virginia state forces, was loath to become the aggressor in the expanding conflict and refrained from attacking Washington or supporting Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore. U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln had proclaimed a blockade of Confederate ports (April 19) and called for 42,000 three-year volunteers and 40,000 more men to join the regular army and navy (May 3). Lincoln was awaiting the result of Virginia's referendum on secession (May 23) and scrupulously avoided any violation of Virginian territory, although Federal troops crossed the Potomac (May 24) and, without opposition, occupied the south bank for the protection of the capital. Although Winfield Scott, the commanding general of the Union army, had little faith in state militia units, he proposed to use them to defend Washington and recover the Federal garrison at Harpers Ferry, while he trained the newly raised volunteers for an autumn campaign.

After Virginia voted overwhelmingly in favour of secession, Lee, acting as military adviser to Confederate Pres. Jefferson Davis, gathered two armies, one under Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard at Manassas Junction, the other at Harpers Ferry under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston. When Union Maj. Gen. Robert Patterson threatened Harpers Ferry with a larger force, Johnston evacuated his post on June 15 and fell back, covering the Manassas Gap railway.

While Scott continued to urge caution regarding the use of militia troops, in Washington there was a demand that Beauregard should be attacked before the three-month term of the militia's service expired. "On to Richmond," the new capital of the Confederacy, was the popular cry. Because the infirm 75-year-old Scott was unable to conduct field operations, he had appointed Gen. Irvin McDowell as field commander of the forces south of the Potomac. On June 24 McDowell submitted a plan of operations that overruled Scott's recommendations. With 30,000 men he proposed to drive Beauregard's force of 20,000 back behind the Rappahannock, provided that Patterson prevented Johnston from joining Beauregard. The plan was approved, and McDowell advanced from Alexandria on July 16.

"There stands Jackson like a stone wall!"

After initial skirmishing at Blackburn's Ford on July 18, Beauregard's forces retired behind Bull Run in defensive positions. McDowell, discovering that the Confederate right and centre were too strong for a frontal assault, undertook a flanking movement around the enemy left. His delay in advancing, however, would prove the undoing of his plan. Upon perceiving the Union movements, Beauregard notified the authorities in Richmond by telegraph, and Johnston, then facing Patterson's army near Winchester, was ordered to join Beauregard as quickly as possible. Johnston was able to mask his intentions and, utilizing the Manassas Gap railroad, moved 10,000 troops to Bull Run. Johnston arrived on the scene July 20 and, as the ranking general, accepted Beauregard's plan of attack against Centreville, a town some 5 miles (8 km) to the east. Before the attack could be launched, however, the Union army assaulted the Confederate left on July 21.

McDowell took personal command of two of his four divisions, controlling the turning movement at Sudley Ford, while one division executed a feint at the Stone Bridge and the last remained at Blackburn's Ford in reserve. McDowell's inexperienced troops arrived at Sudley Ford more than two hours late. Confederate Col. Nathan Evans, who had been left to guard the Stone Bridge, quickly assessed that the attack on the bridge was merely a demonstration, and he was able to move 11 of his 15 companies to Matthews Hill above Sudley Springs. There he was supported by brigades commanded by Barnard Bee, Francis Bartow, and Thomas Jackson.

About 9:15 am the Federal troops came under Confederate fire and were forced to deploy, but two hours later McDowell's flanking threat caused Evans, Bee, and Bartow to withdraw in disorder to the Henry House Hill. Jackson's First Brigade stood firm, however, and Bee reportedly shouted to his men, "There is Jackson standing like a stone wall! Let us determine to die here, and we will conquer! Rally behind the Virginians!" The Union assault was checked, but both Bee and Bartow were mortally wounded while leading their troops.

The fighting at Henry House Hill was severe, and about 1:30 pm, McDowell brought up two artillery batteries to the fighting line. A Confederate regiment, being mistaken for friendly troops and allowed to approach, silenced the guns with close rifle fire. From that time, though the hill was taken and retaken several times, the Union attack made no further headway. At 2:45 pm, with more of Beauregard's troops having come up, Jackson's brigade launched a bayonet charge on the wavering Union lines. At the same time, the Union troops were assailed by the last brigades of Johnston's army, which had arrived at the critical moment from the railway. The Federal forces gave way at once, and a Confederate artillery barrage turned the retreat into a panicked flight to the Potomac. The victors were also exhausted and did not pursue, although Johnston moved to the heights around Centreville.

Casualties and assessment

McDowell's army of 28,450 suffered 460 killed and 1,124 wounded, with over 1,300 listed as missing or captured. Beauregard and Johnston's 32,230 Confederates lost 387 killed and 1,582 wounded, with just 13 reported missing or captured.

In the end Bull Run arguably did more harm to the victors than to the defeated. Southern leaders undeniably rested on their laurels, confident in the seemingly justified belief that "one Southerner could whip ten Yankees." The delay enabled Gen. George McClellan, who was called to the chief military command at Washington, to raise, organize, and train the Army of the Potomac. Johnston meanwhile was similarly employed in fashioning the Army of Northern Virginia, which for four years carried the Confederacy on its bayonets. The humiliation of Bull Run provided focus to the unorganized enthusiasm of the North, which eventually coalesced into a determination to crush the rebellion at all costs.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Adam Augustyn.

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First Battle of Bull Run | Summary, Casualties, & Facts

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First Battle of Bull Run, in the American Civil War, the first of two engagements fought at a small stream named Bull Run, near the key railroad junction of Manassas in northern Virginia. The battle ended in a rout of Union forces, but the exhausted Confederates were unable to capitalize on their victory.