his force was concentrated
at Centreville, twenty-two miles from Washington, and five and a half
north-east of Manassas Junction. Beauregard's outposts had already
fallen back to the banks of Bull Run, a stream made difficult by
wooded and precipitous banks, from two to three miles south, and of
much the same width as the Thames at Oxford.

It would have been possible to have attacked on the morning of the
19th, but the Federal commander was confronted by many obstacles. He
knew little of the country. Although it was almost within sight of
the capital, the maps were indifferent. Guides who could describe
roads and positions from a military point of view were not
forthcoming. All information had to be procured by personal
reconnaissance, and few of his officers had been trained to such
work. Moreover, the army was most unwieldy. 35,000 men, together with
ten batteries, and the requisite train of waggons, was a force far
larger than any American officer had yet set eyes upon; and the
movement of such a mass demanded precise arrangement on the part of
the staff, and on the part of the troops most careful attention to
order and punctuality; but of these both staff and troops were
incapable. The invading force might have done well in a defensive
position, which it would have had time to occupy, and where the
supply of food and forage, carried on from stationary magazines,
would have been comparatively easy; but directly it was put in
motion, inexperience and indiscipline stood like giants in the path.
The Federal troops were utterly unfitted for offensive movement, and
both Scott and McDowell had protested against an immediate advance.
The regiments had only been organised in brigades a week previously.
They had never been exercised in mass. Deployment for battle had not
yet been practised, and to deploy 10,000 or 20,000 men for attack is
a difficult operation, even with well-drilled troops and an
experienced staff. Nor were the supply arrangements yet completed.
The full complement of waggons had not arrived, and the drivers on
the spot were as ignorant as they were insubordinate. The troops had
received no instruction in musketry, and many of the regiments went
into action without having once fired their rifles. But the protests
of the generals were of no effect. The Federal Cabinet decided that
in face of the public impatience it was impossible to postpone the
movement. "On to Richmond" was the universal cry. The halls