First Bull Run New Forum Host Reporting In/ Trying to determine interest levels and/or what people would want from the First Bull Run/ Manassas forum in the future

Hussar Yeomanry

Sergeant
Joined
Dec 6, 2017
Location
UK
Pretty much as the thread title says. Now, this Forum has not in the past generated as much traffic as say the Gettysburg Forum and to be honest I don't think it ever will. That doesn't mean we can't try and have it be a little more active.

To that end in the very short time I have thought the following might make decent topics for a thread for if they have been covered they havent been covered recently.


- Colonel Evans - the man, his 'eccentricities' and his remarkable performance at First Bull Run/ Manassas

- Who went on to do well (whistles innocently... Jackson... cough, cough) - This could perhaps tie in with other forums perhaps.

- And who did not

- Perhaps a look at people who were there but aren't really known for being there - for example Union Captain (at the time) Henry Hunt of the 2nd US Artillery.

- A look at the artillery used there - perhaps focusing on the larger Parrots?

- What are the good (best) books on the battle

- A look at the Union cavalry – we all hear of the black horse boys...

- The action at Blackburn's ford - what should have happened. What did happen. It's a lesser known part of the battle.

- The difficulty in maintaining coordination during an attack by what is effectively a 90 day militia army

- The similar plans of the two commanders - why and also what they entailed

- The use of trains – tie in with that forum again perhaps.


I am sure I will come up with other ideas in time but these are some ideas to brush the dust off things. I am also more than happy/ looking for other ideas. So if others have any ideas please let me know and I'll see what I can do. Also if anyone has any preferences let me know. I'm here to try and make this forum what you want it to be after all. (I'm also completely new to this (clueless? :whistling:))
 
The fighting on Henry House Hill, Irvin McDowell and P. G. T. Beauregard and their strategies, the
performances of Wade Hampton and J.E.B. Stuart, the fighting around Ricketts Battery, the Irish
Brigade, the final charge that won the day by the 18th Virginia and Hampton's Legion, how T. J.
Jackson got his nickname and Barnard Bee's death are all possible thread starters for discussions
about 1st Bull Run.
 
Other thoughts.... How the wierd Beauregard/Johnston command structure affected the battle, Longstreet & DR Jones advance toward Centerville at the end of the day -- was there an opportunity to win a decisive victory, the performance of later prominent generals in their first battle (I.e., Sherman, Howard, Slocum, Burnside, Early, Kirby Smith, etc)
 
Thank you for all your ideas.

Certainly I will look at exploring them and indeed @Andy Cardinal I have already begun researching the performance of later prominent Generals (and others - for Alonzo Cushing - for example was present - a fact I have only recently discovered)
 
I don't frequent the forums a whole lot at times but this is a forum I always try to keep an eye out for. I'm glad there's a dedicated host that will try to spur on conversation. This is one of my favorite battles to study so I will try to engage as much as I'm able.
 
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3653
The Guns of Bull Run: A Story of the Civil War’s Eve

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21165
The First Battle of Bull Run

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31973
The Rode Island Artillery at the First Battle of Bull Run

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/32951
The Bull-Run Rout

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/47247
Manassas (Bull Run) National Battlefield Park, Virginia

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33286
Bull Run to Appomattox: A Boy’s View

Plus 14 pages more of book entries: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=bull+run
 
Hussar, have you every been here and visited the NPS Battlefield park? I see you're over there across the pond.....
 
Hussar, have you every been here and visited the NPS Battlefield park? I see you're over there across the pond.....

It is one of the half a dozen or so Civil War sites that I have had the fortune to visit, albeit over twenty years ago now. I also did not have as much time there as I would have liked but yes I have been there... though I would like to go back. Who knows, it might even happen.
 
It is one of the half a dozen or so Civil War sites that I have had the fortune to visit, albeit over twenty years ago now. I also did not have as much time there as I would have liked but yes I have been there... though I would like to go back. Who knows, it might even happen.
If you ever decide to come back over here let me know. I live five minutes from old Town Manassas, ten minutes from the battlefield. There's an original restored slave quarters a mile from my house. Various Union and Confederate regiments camped here during the two battles on the property my house sits on. I posted a topic here on CWT about the "Clover Hill Farm" a while back, check it out. One of my ancestors was George Clark Jr., colonel in command of the "Boston Volunteers," the 11th MA Infantry. Look him up and what the 11th did on Henry Hill!!! Neat stuff...…..
 
Thank you for your kind offer.

I am aware of the 11th Massachusetts on Henry House Hill and their difficulties in deploying in to line of battle (and also of their fight at Gettysburg against Barksdale). I am somewhat aware of their Colonel, your ancestor but it was a terrible fight... especially in that part of the line.

I will indeed look at what you suggest.
 
Clark got wounded pretty bad on Henry Hill and was successfully removed from the field by junior officers. I'm sure the enlisted men of the 11th didn't get such preferential treatment. I assume he was placed in a wagon along with all the others that skedaddled across the Bull and Cub Run bridges. He thus made it to Centreville, Fairfax and then to Wash DC via Alexandria. Then back to Boston where he recovered from his wounds. He mustered out later in '61 due to his disability. He never served in the Union army again.
 
The civilian side of it? There's a lot of shock/horror over civilians viewing the battle, some making a day out over it. Some politicians went too, from what I can see there to support troops ( from their states, etc. ). Quite a few were captured, ended up in Richmond prisons. Narratives would be awesome. Alfred Ely's book has some terrific stuff on it, although he tends to get excusatory and isn't always accurate. DC also sounds a little like Brussels during and after Waterloo? Be interesting to hear more? Wounded trickled into the city on their own steam, collapsed in the street and on doorsteps- civilians came to their aid.

Also the confusions apparent in a ' young ' war? Uniform colors not defined, friendly fire killing men. Also medical care- surgeons more swamped and overwhelmed than seems possible, poor guys. That's where it's always seemed to me everyone threw a war and forgot o bring band aids.
 
Doubt that would have been possible with Johnson and Beauregard, the Confederates were fortunate enough to win the day and run the Yankees off. I think that was in the minds of most, both within the Confederate govt. and the commanders that held Manassas for the next few months. Of course the War would change all that....

Others battles during the CW were different, considering the outcomes of Sharpsburg and Gettysburg being that both those Union Army commanders had the ability to go after the retreating Confederate forces but opted not to, holding all the reserves back and allowing the ones engaged to rest and tend to their wounds.
 
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