There have been many different opinions on The 2nd Battle of Bull Run. In this essay I will compare and contrast different points of view from different authors.
The Federal army showed great strength and strategy. Well organized and composed of the best that they could lay their hands on. With their experienced field commanders and their well-trained soldiers, they were sure to win The 2nd Battle of Bull Run, or as it known to the South, Manassas. Pope was a strong and knowledgeable General of the Federal army but compared to Stonewall Jackson of the South. Both armies had their strengths, especially the Union army and its numbers, and Stackpole notes this, but like in most confrontations the attacker will most likely lose the most.
When the Union’s charged they took out a number of Confederate’s but because of the placement of the South they had better cover and clearer shots. And when the Union army retreated their losses were increased overwhelmingly because int he event of the retreat General Robert E. Lee arrived with 30,000 more troops as reinforcements for the confederate army. Stackpole felt that the battle was a fair fight, but Pope didn’t use his head when he sent his troops into the battlefield.
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Stackpole, Edward J. From Cedar Mountain To Antietam. Harrisburg, Pa: The Telegraph Press, 1959.
With their ’cause’ in mind the Confederate soldiers were ready to battle the Union soldiers at Manassas once again. Just thirteen months before they had gathered here, full of enthusiasm and confidence, knowing that they would prevail. But thirteen months ago, the battle was decided, and the Confederates had been defeated. But this time it was going to be different, and it was. The southern army led by Robert E. Lee, a great, mighty, and well- experienced General, was to battle the Federal army, led by John Pope. After only two days the South had taken Manassas and this was a great achievement in War, and hopefully not the last.
This was a great step for the Confederate army in that they were not far at all from Maryland, and with the Union troops in a deep depression from the loss they felt they could do it. Hennessy feels that this battle was a campaign of high stakes, that Lee would have been able to bring the War farther North if there was more organization in the Southern ranks. If Pope had not rushed into the battlefield and committed the daring and disastrous mistakes that he did the battle most probably could have been won by the Unions. But with the great Robert E. Lee commanding the Confederate army it would have been tough.
Hennessy, John J. Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
Shelby Foote wrote this book somewhat through the eyes of the soldiers. He, in great detail, notes that both Generals, Pope and Lee, very equal in war strategy and other sorts of similar knowledge. Pope commited some grave mistakes that costed him the battle most especially the order to retreat, because of this order he made his soldiers much easier targets for the Confederate shooters. With the heavy losses of the Union army the South felt that this victory moved them into a vital part of the Union territories, that for some reason or another in Lee’s mind would be hard for the North to defend. It would have been if it were’nt for the rushing of troops into the Maryland area. The Union soldiers ended the battle with great despair that spread fast like a plague. This battle could have severed their routes to the deeper parts of the South through Maryland if it wasn’t for their great determination. Foote illustrated most greatly all details that could be noted and it is the most superior in information and opinion yet to date. At least in my eyes.
