Bull Run (Civil War Eyewitnessbook)

Abraham Lincoln's Proclamation Act of 1863 declared that all slave states of the Confederacy (South) were to eternally make all their slaves free, without any compensation whatsoever for its owners.

Hakim, Joy. A History of US  Sourcebook and Index. third edition ed., Oxford  University Press, 1993.

Burga, Michael. United States of America. Scholastic, 2013.

Hakim, Joy. A History of US  Sourcebook and Index. third edition ed., Oxford  University Press, 1993.

Hakim, Joy. A History of US  Sourcebook and Index. third edition ed., Oxford  University Press, 1993.

Time: 34 hours

Location: Charlestown, South Carolina

Key Figures: Robert Anderson ( union commander( , Capital Abner Doubleday ( union second command) and Brigadier General P.G.T ( confederate leader/commander)

Mary Boykin Chesnut, Charleston, South Carolina, diary entry (13th April, 1861)

Fort Sumter has been on fire. Anderson has not yet silenced any of our guns. So the aides, still with swords and red sashes by way of uniform, tell us. But the sound of those guns makes regular meals impossible. None of us go to table. Tea trays pervade the corridors going everywhere. Some of the anxious hearts lie on their beds and moan in solitary misery.

Interpretation of Significance/outcome:

The Battle of Antietam was the opening battle of the Civil War, being significant because it paved the way for the rest of the Civil War and demostrated the Confederacy in its own territory that the Union was not giving up easily, despite being outnumbered.

(john@spartacus-educational.com), John Simkin. Spartacus Educational, Spartacus Educational, spartacus-educational.com/USACWsumter.htm. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025.

Time: less than 20 minutes

Location: Philippi, West Virginia

Key Figures: Colonel ( army office), Benjamin Franklin and Ebenezer Dumont ( Union, North) and George Porterfield ( Confederate, incharge of 800 soldiers)

March Letter from W. J. Willey to J. P. Benjamin

RICHMOND, VA., March 5, 1862.

Honorable J. P. BENJAMIN.

DEAR SIR: I was appointed by the Executive of Virginia a colonel of volunteers on the 9th of May last and ordered by General Lee to report to Colonel George A. Porterfield at Grafton, Va., for duty. I was assigned to the command of the Thirty-first Militia Regiment on the 28th of May. I was taken sick of typhoid fever at Philippi and in that condition I was captured on the 3rd of June last. I was then taken from Philippi to Grafton by the enemy and placed under medical treatment.

On the 10th of September I was turned over to the civil authority and sent to Wheeling to await the action of the grand jury of the Federal court then in session at that place. The jury found an indictment against me for treason, but the court declined trying me at that term and I remained in jail until the 27th of January, when I proposed to the civil and military authorities of the district that if they would release me from prison for sixty days and give me safe conduct through their lines I would give them my parole of honor that I would proceed to Richmond and procure the release of Colonel Woodruff, of the Second Kentucky Regiment, who was captured at the battle of Scary and was then confined as a prisoner of war in the Southern Confederacy, in exchange for myself, and in the event I failed I would return and deliver myself into the custody of the jailer of Ohio County within sixty days.

I then supposed that the Confederate Government would not hesitate to make the exchange agreed upon, as it has gone in the Honorable Charles James Faulkner’s case, and as it has since done in Colonel Pegram’s case. I have made the above statement of the facts in my case hoping they will enable you to make the exchange so much desired by me.

W. J. WILLEY.

“5 March Letter from W. J. Willey to J. P. Benjamin.” Spirit of ’61, 24 Feb. 2021, spirit61.info/primary-sources/willey-1/.

Interpretation of Significance/Outcome:

The Battle of Philippi (1861)was the first planned land battle organized by the Union ( North). It was a major win for the Union that gave spotlight to certain union officers above all became a antecedent cause of the development of West Virginia as a state.

Time: 2+ hours

Location: Near Manassas Virginia

Key Figures: Union General Irvan Mcdowell and Confederate Generals P.G.T, Stonewall Jackson, and Beauregard.

What Happened: The Battle of Bull Run took place near D.C and it was a confederate ( south victory) in which both unprepared sides fought, for formally the first time in the civil war.

Primary Resource:

Letter Page 1 William H.Murray to cousin

My dear Cousin Being on the Sick list to day, from rhumatism in the left arm. I shall employ my right to the grateful task of thanking you for your timely present, which strange to say only reached us yesterday. You could not have thought of any thing more appropriate than the housewifery, for I was reduced to my last button, and looked more like one of Fat Jack Falstaff's regiment than an old City Guard I trust your good council andgood book, may be half as ser- viceable to my spiritual welfare as the buttons to my wardrobe. Long before you get this you will have heard of the battle of Bull's Run, and our glorious victory, with all its particulars. And I know you will rejoice to know that it was won principly by our Brigade. Our timely arrival, rapid march, and desperate attack turned the right flank of their grand army and put them to flight and I honestly believe some of them are running yet. When we get home we can tell you all about it, for it would take a large volume to note the incidents of that terrible Sunday.

“One Man’s Civil War: A Letter from Bull Run, July 26, 1861.” Exhibits Online - One Man’s Civil War: A Letter from Bull Run, msa.maryland.gov/msa/educ/exhibits/html/bullrun.html. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.

Interpretation of Significance/outcome: The Battle of Bull Run ( first manassas) was significant because it made the Union ( north) realize that in order to beat the confederate ( south) they needed more training and resources, serving as prove that it would not be so easy.

Time: six hours

Location: Linn County, Kansas

Key Figures: From the Union (north) Side Nathaniel Lyon and Samuel Sturgis. From the confederate ( south) Sterling Price and Benjamin McCulloch.

What Happened: The Union ( North) wanted to reassure dominance over the Mississippi River but in the end ended up loosing to the Confederate ( South) and lost the life of their general Nathaniel Lyon.

Interpretation of Significance/outcome.

“Rather than concede to the state of Missouri the right to demand that my government shall not enlist troops within her limits, or bring troops into the state whenever it pleases, or move its troops at its own will into, or out of, or through the state; rather than to concede to the state of Missouri for one single instant the right to dictate to my government in any matter however unimportant, I would see you, and you, and you, and you, and you, and every man, woman, and child in the state dead and buried. This means war.” (Nathaniel Lyon's Speech)

General Lyon’s March of 1861 | The Civil War in Missouri, www.civilwarmo.org/educators/resources/info-sheets/general-lyons-march-1861. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.

Significance: The Battle of Wilson Creek was significant because it gave the Confederate ( South) control over the Mississippi ( 2nd largest river in the U.S)

Time: two days

Location: Hardin County

Key Figures:

Union ( North):

General Grant

General McDowell McCook

General Leonidas

Confederate ( South):

General Johnston

General Beauregard

General Breckinridge

What Happened:

The Union troop won, going inside confederate territory. While this was a major victory for the union it had the most fatalities in American History.

"I received your letter last Sunday morning and will freely admit that I was very much pleased to see that you had really devoted a whole sheet to your unworthy brother away down South in Dixie and in the midst of Secesh [the Confederacy], but although it is a[n] exciting fact, it is here that we are in the midst of Secesh [Confederates] for they lay all around us in the shelf of death, and now only a few rods from [us are]...over 250 dead bodies and all secesh, we did not bury Union men & rebels together at all.... A great number of them were killed on Sunday & when I rode on the field on Friday last dead bodies could still be seen lying round in the brush. It was a useful 24 hours work, but thank fortune now all is quiet and we still sit ...in our own beds.... But...we know not at what time the hole may open again in all its fury. We are directly in the advance, but now they have moved hosts of our army to the front and we are back of the center, and cannot be surprised as we were before...." ( Edgard Pearce)

Digital History, www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=3&psid=403. Accessed 10 Mar. 2025.

Interpretation of Significance/outcome:

Not only was the Battle of Shiloh a destructive death battle but also it granted the Union ( North) full control of the Western Theater.

Time: 12 hours

Location: Sharpburg, Maryland

Key figures:

Union:

General McClellan

Confederate:

General Robert E. Lee

What Happened: The Battle of Antietam, also known as the Bloodiest Day in American history was initially an attempt by the Confederacy to invade Union lands. In the end around 22,000 people died which is why it's known as the bloodiest day in America.

"Excerpt from Report of Medical Director Jonathan Letterman

Early in the morning of the 17th of September, the battle of Antietam began, and continued until dark. No one engaged on that hotly-

contested field can ever forget the intense interest with which he watched the progress of that battle, upon the issue of which the welfare

of his country so much depended…

I received valuable aid on this occasion from Assistant Surgeon [Benjamin] Howard, U.S.A., who was busily engaged, while the battle was in

progress, in riding to different parts of the field and keeping me informed of the condition of the Medical Department.

After night I inspected all the hospitals in Keedysville, and gave such surgical aid and instructions as were required. Medical and surgical

supplies were, in this battle… matters of serious consideration…

The line of battle was between six and seven miles in length, the hospitals were therefore very numerous; but, though I was constantly

occupied in visiting them, I did not find the stores exhausted."

Antietam Primary Sources, www.civilwarmed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/NMCWM-Lesson-Plan-Antietam-Primary-Sources-Final.pdf. Accessed 11 Mar. 2025.

Interpretation of Significance/outcome:

The Battle of Antietam was significant because of its outrageous number of fatalities but really because it was the first battle that was not totally lost in the East by the Union ( North) and it gave Lincoln the strength to release the Emancipation Proclamation ( 1863) which freed all slaves.

Time: about 7 days

Location: New Orleans, St. Bernard Parish

Key Figures:

Union (North)

-Admiral Farragut ( navy)

-General Butler ( troops)

Confederacy ( South):

• General Lovell

What Happened: The Union gained control over New Orleans which ultimately gave them control over the Mississippi..

“After losing some thirty men killed and wounded, with no possibility of escape or rescue – perfectly at the mercy of the enemy, he being able to cut the levees and drown me out – I thought it my duty to surrender. A single shell could have cut the light embankment.”

Duofor ( 282-283)

Post, ECW Guest. “‘New Orleans Gone and with It the Confederacy’ – the Fall of New Orleans.” Emerging Civil War, 31 May 2022, emergingcivilwar.com/2022/05/31/new-orleans-gone-and-with-it-the-confederacy-the-fall-of-new-orleans/.

Interpretation of Significance/outcome:

As a result of the Capture of New Orleans the union gained control over the Mississippi.

Time: 2 days

Location: Gettysburg Pennsylvania

Key Figures:

Union: George Meade

Confederate: Robert E. Lee

What Happened:

The Union won against the Confederacy, ending the Civil War.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, “GETTYSBURG ADDRESS” (19 NOVEMBER 1863)

[1] Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

[2] Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

[3] But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate-we can not consecrate-we can not hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion-that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain-that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.

“Lincoln, ‘Gettysburg Address,’ Speech Text.” Voices of Democracy, 5 July 2016, voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/lincoln-gettysburg-address-speech-text/.

Interpretation of Significance/Outcome:

The Battle of Gettysburg put an end to the Civl War by Union Victory atlas.