e first movement was made on
the afternoon of July 16th. General Mansfield with 16,000 men remained
in Washington to protect the capital from surprise. The advance was
slow, occupying several days. McDowell discovered six Confederate
brigades posted along the creek known as Bull Run, and he decided to
begin his attack upon them. While General Tyler was sent across the
stone bridge to threaten the Confederate front, Hunter and Heintzelman
were directed to make a detour and attack the enemy's front and rear.
Johnston, who had hurried up from Winchester, had decided to hasten the
battle through fear of the arrival of Patterson with reinforcements for
McDowell, but the latter, moving first, Johnston was compelled to act on
the defensive.

[Illustration: FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN, 1861

On July 16, 1861, the first great battle of the Civil War was fought,
resulting in the complete defeat of the Union army, which fled in panic
from the field. Had the Confederates followed up the pursuit they could
easily have captured Washington city. The total loss to the Union army
in killed, wounded, captured and missing was 3,334 men; that of the
Southern army, 1,982. The Confederates gained another victory at Bull
Run in 1862.]

Tyler and Hunter were tardy in their movements, but by noon McDowell had
turned the Confederate left and uncovered the stone bridge. Instead of
using the advantage thus secured and assuming position at Manassas
depot, he kept up his pursuit of the fleeing Confederates to the woods.
There, when everything seemed to be going the way of the Union array, it
was checked by General T.J. Jackson's brigade, whose firm stand in the
face of seeming disaster won for him the soubriquet of "Stonewall"
Jackson, first uttered in compliment by General Bee, by which name the
remarkable man will always be remembered.

[Illustration: STATUE OF McCLELLAN IN CITY HALL SQUARE, PHILADELPHIA.]

The stand of Jackson enabled Johnston to rally the right and Beauregard
the left, but matters were in a critical shape, when Kirby Smith, who
had escaped Patterson in the valley, rushed across the fields from
Manassas with 15,000 fresh troops. This timely arrival turned, the
fortunes of the day. McDowell was driven from the plateau he had
occupied, and the whole Union army was thrown into a panic and rushed in
headlong flight for the defenses of Washington. Nothing could stay their
flight, and the city was overrun with the terrified fugitives