Bull Run
...near the Manassas, Virginia railway junction. The armies in this first battle were not very large by later Civil War standards. The Federal forces under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell were organized into four divisions of about 30,000 men. These divisions were commanded by Tyler, Hunter, Heintzelman, and Miles. The Confederate command structure was somewhat more stable, including two "armies", with no division structure and thirteen independent brigades under Bonham, Ewell, Jones, Early, Jackson, Smith, Bartow, and a cavalry brigade under Stuart. The Confederate Army of the Potomac was under the command of Brigadier General Pierre G. T. Beauregard, and the Army of the Shenandoah was commanded by Brigadier General Joseph Johnston. These two forces would equal McDowell's Strength.
One thing that was odd was that each commander had planned to initiate an attack on the other side with an attack on the enemy's right flank and a massed attack on the opposite flank. Had this been done at the same time, and both been successful in their purpose, the two armies would have pivoted around each other ending up in each other's rear, able to march unopposed to Washington or Richmond.
McDowell had planned to use Tyler's division as the diversionary attack at the Stone Bridge, while Davies brigade did the same at Blackburn's Ford. At the same time, Hunter's and Heintzelman's divisions would cross Bull Run at Sudley Springs and attack from the north.
McDowell's troops involved in the flanking column, reached their jumping off positions two and a half hours behind schedule. Tyler's and Davies attacks at the Stone Bridge and Blackburn's Ford were already well under way, and the Confederate high command was beginning to sense an advantage because the Union attacks were not pressed very hard. When Beauregard was notified that Federal troops were massing...
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