150 Years ago: The Campaigns of Second Manassas to Antietam (Update)

August 27-27; Second Manassas  and the defeat of Gen. John Pope.  "A heavy, soaking rain fell across northern Virginia on the night of August 30-31, 1862. Despite the storm’s intensity, it could not wash away the bloodstains that reddened the fields and wood lots along Bull Run creek. On the two previous days, more than 100,000 Northerners and Southerners had killed and maimed each other.

If General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia had a single crucible that forged it into one of history’s finest commands, it was perhaps this familiar killing ground at Manassas." (Video)    Numerous excellent links at this site.    NPS Historian Ray Brown explores the intense fight between Fitz John Porter's Federals and Stonewall Jackson's Confederates at the Deep Cut at Second Manassas on August 30, 1862.  

Some background on why Lincoln wanted to remove the Army of the Potomac from the dithering McClelland and his unfortunate choice of John Pope as the solution;

   The Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln found itself, in the spring of 1862, in the very difficult position of having called to the chief command of the army an officer in whom it did not place entire confidence. The attitude of General McClellan on many points was disliked; his political affiliations were distrusted; his extreme caution, so far as his own movements were concerned--his easy confidence when the matter at stake was the safety of Washington--his startling plan of removing the army to the Peninsula--all combined to awaken alarm, and to deprive him of that cordial support which his great undertaking required in order to be successful. He had even attempted to evade the orders of the President, by taking with him to Yorktown troops supposed to be needed for the defence of Washington; the Government had promptly interfered by detaining the entire corps of McDowell; and, though two divisions of this corps were afterward sent to McClellan, the fact remained that he did not have at the outset of the campaign the overwhelming force on which he had calculated. The irritation caused by this found abundant expression in his correspondence with the President and the Secretary of War.

The Battle of 2nd Manassas  Various reports and situations linked to here for the student.

The destruction of the 5th New York Zouaves   "Just after 4 p.m. that afternoon, a Confederate advance started toward the grassy slope just south of the present day Lee Highway.  The 5th New York regiment rushed to form a line to stop the oncoming assault, but they were quickly overrun by the oncoming Rebels.  In less than ten minutes, 123 members of the regiment were either killed or mortally wounded. 

"One Union veteran referred to the Southern counterattack that day as a "hurricane of death." That was the single greatest loss of life suffered by any Union infantry regiment in any single action during the Civil War."     More on the 5th New York and 2nd Manassas

150th Anniversary Battle of First Manassas Part 3 (Known also as Bull Run)

The Union tended to name battles after the nearest river while the South used the name of a nearby town. The North named the Battle of Antietam after the creek on the battlefield; the South called it the Battle of Sharpsburg, the town there. So also with their armies; Union armies were generally named after rivers and Confederates after states. (Army of Tennessee was Confederate; Army of the Tennessee was Union.

Left: The Stone House, or Matthews’ House, located along the Warrenton Turnpike, was constructed 

circa 1848.  It served as a hospital during the First Battle of Manassas and the Second Battle of Manassas.

Below; the stone house today.

• Fighting in the Twilight at Brawner Farm  The battle opens. Follow the trail of markers
• Second Manassas Campaign by Virginia Historical Markers
• The Guns of Second Manassas
• Get a battle app.   I kid you not.
• General Pope's battle report
• The Case of the Missing Manassas Cyclorama
• Frank Harrell's Civil War History Mr. Harrell was first webmaster of Manassas  National Battlefield Park

 (Left) Uniform of the 5th New York  "Clad in colorful garb modeled on the uniform worn by french colonial troops, the 5th New York Infantry, or "Duryée's Zouaves", was one of two regiments in Colonel Gouverneur Warren's brigade that bore the brunt of Longstreet's onslaught on August 30, 1862. cought in a deadly crossfire that one survivor likened to "the vortex of Hell". In less than ten minutes the regiment lost 330 out of some 550 men taken into action. At least 120 Zouaves were killed outright or died of wounds, the greatest fatality sustained in a Civil War battle by any single Union infantry unit."   

Below, Don Troiani's "The 5th Texas, Second Manassas, August 30, 1862"

Army of Northern Virginia Order of Battle - Second Manassas
Union Order of Battle - Second Manassas
AmericanCivilWar.com; The Battle of Second Manassas

Second Manassas - Morning of Delusion from Civil War Trust on Vimeo.  Hat tip to CyndisList.com  for this and the following.

Second Manassas - Prelude (1 of 14) from Civil War Trust on Vimeo.
"Historian Scott Patchan talks about the failings of Union high command on August 30 1862 and how they impacted the Battle of Second Manassas."

Update: The weight of war–a 150th musing

"This is an image of Lt. Colonel Joseph McLean of the 88th Pennsylvania–his shirt unbuttoned, shoulders slumped, face heavy with sadness or fatigue. Precisely 150 years ago this afternoon–almost to the minute as I write this–McLean fell in the swirl of fighting on Chinn Ridge, at Second Manassas. About most who fell in this war, we know little beyond the official record–little of their life, their being, or their death. But of this man, Lt. Colonel Joseph McLean of the 88th Pennsylvania, we know a good deal."
More...

Hat tip to James Sullivan, Tampa, FLA