THE BATTLE OF SECOND MANASSAS

In just thirteen months, two major armies in the Eastern Theater of the Civil War would revisit the site of the first major battle of that war – Manassas. The Army of Northern Virginia, under the leadership of General Robert E. Lee and the newly formed Union Army of Virginia commanded by recently appointed General John Pope would collide for another bloody battle not far from the outskirts of Washington, D.C.

Following General George B. McClellan’s failed Peninsula Campaign in the spring of 1862, Confederate General Lee decided to turn his attention to the new Army of Virginia under General Pope. Lee divided his Army in two, sending “Stonewall” Jackson’s Corps to the west of Pope’s Army, the right flank, and sending General James Longstreet’s Corps to the east of Pope. Jackson’s orders were to cut off Pope’s supply line at Manassas Junction. Jackson did just that. After capturing the depot and warehouses at the junction, he burned what he could not take. Pope ignored the information coming to him regarding Jackson’s movements and decided that Jackson’s Corps were moving to the Shenandoah Valley.

In the meantime, McClellan remained at Harrison’s Landing following his victory and retreat at Malvern Hill (see previous blog) to lick his wounds.  He and his troops had been ordered back to Washington, D.C. by President Lincoln with the intention of uniting the Army of the Potomac with the Army of Virginia, under Pope not McClellan, to strike Lee’s Army. This would give the Union a tremendous numerical advantage.  But due to political issues (McClellan being a Democrat and Lincoln a Republican) and personal issues (he was miffed that his troops were being ordered to simply protect the Capitol with support to Pope) he dragged his feet.

Following Jackson’s success at the Manassas Junction depot, He elected to go into hiding as he awaited the arrival of Longstreet and his corps. The last thing Jackson needed was to encounter Pope’s Army with a numerical disadvantage. Jackson took his troops to a wooded area near the Brawner Farm called Stony Ridge to wait. During the evening of August 28, 1862 a column of hard-nosed Union soldiers known as the “Black Hat” Brigade were marching east on the Warrenton Turnpike toward Centerville. Although Jackson did not want to tip his hand as to where he was concealing his troops, he could not pass up the opportunity to strike this column. His artillery opened fire. The Midwestern troops returned fire and over the next two hours the “Black Hat” Brigade and the “Stonewall” Brigade battled each other, sometimes exchanging musket fire within 80 yards of each other. As this opening battle of Second Manassas raged, more troops were fed into the conflict. The darkness ended this bloody standoff with nearly a third of the 7,000 troops becoming casualties.

During the evening General Pope, again ignoring intelligence information, deciding that Jackson would retreat to join Longstreet’s troops, planned a morning attack. Pope did not realize that Longstreet was, instead, advancing to join Jackson with the intent of destroying his Army. On the morning of the 29^th, Pope sent piecemeal troops to attack Jackson’s Confederates who had fortified themselves for miles at an unfinished railroad cut. This was a natural breastwork for the Rebels and they repulsed every attempt by the Yankees. Meanwhile, General McClellan refused to move any of his troops to support Pope arguing that his men were needed to protect Washington, D.C. By noon, Longstreet’s Corps had arrived on the field to Jackson’s right but did not attack. He felt it best to take a defensive position ignoring Lee’s orders to attack, rationalizing the he did not knowing the size of the Union Army.

August 30^th brought a renewed attack ordered by General Pope, apparently unaware of Longstreet’s arrival the previous day. During the previous night, several Confederate Brigades adjusted their positions and Pope mistook the movement as retreat. The Union assault by Major General Fitz John Porter’s V Corps on the Confederate right was devastated by the Confederate Artillery. Longstreet, seeing the Union troops in total disarray, counterattacked with his 25,000 Rebel Soldiers in what is regarded as the largest, simultaneous mass assault of the war. Pope had stepped into a situation where he faced the entire Army of Northern Virginia, with virtually no support from McClellan’s troops, and was pushed back to Henry House Hill and then retreated across Bull Run Creek toward Washington, D. C.

Once again, General Robert E. Lee outmaneuvered and outfought the Union Army and left the field with a decisive victory. All the while McClellan sparingly fed a small number of his troops into the battle to support Pope’s efforts. He had won his battle with Lincoln over control of the Army of the Potomac.

Casualties for both sides continue to mount. This three day battle contributed approximately 10,000 Union Soldiers and approximately 8,300 Confederates.

The aftermath of the Second Battle of Manassas, or the Second Battle of Bull Run as the North referred to it, saw Lee confident and ready to move across the Potomac into Maryland. It also saw Pope relieved of his command and sent west, while his Army of Virginia was merged with the Army of the Potomac and McClellan remaining in command.

From here these two armies engaging in battle in the Eastern Theater move into Maryland to next face each other in the bloodiest day in American History at the battle that is called the Battle of Antietam, or the Battle of Sharpsburg.