FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN

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Introduction
July 19, 1861 started the first major land battle of the American Civil War. Battle of Bull run started after a complex web of economic, political, moral, and constitutional issues that the country was facing over many years. Accelerated by northern opinion, as expressed by editorials and Congressional speeches, General McDowell and General Patterson who were fighting for the North attacked the south. Although some knew that the troops in the North weren’t ready, many believed that one battle would decide the fate of the war thus ending it.
On the Confederate side General Johnston reinforced General Beauregard forces while General McDowell was enroute to Manassas. General McDowell’s plan was to surprise the south with a fast attack on Manassas Gap Railroad in order to keep General Johnston from reinforcing Beauregard. This plan was excellent but the timing was to slow. Over all the battle started what was going to be a hard long fight while laying out the foundation from modern military training.

History
The last few years America was inching closer to war with itself. Four decades of compromise between sections of country had made war unavoidable. In December 20, 1860 South Carolina formally adopted an ordinance of secession, within days other states passed similar ordinances.
With seven states withdrawn from the Union, a constitution was formed for the Confederate States of America and a day later Jefferson Davis was chosen provisional president. President Lincoln had been just been elected and during his inauguration he stated repeatedly that there was no real crisis, only an “artificial” one. No side wanted to go to war mainly due to the fact that neither side was really prepared for it. At the beginn...

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...another language. General McDowell’s indecision to push his untrained troops forward to gain the upper hand showed his lack of effective communication with his combat commanders. This lead to a little too late concept that eventually caused the South to win the battle.
Execution was lacking by the North during the battle. Due to his troops being untrained and ill-prepared for this battle, giving them complicated orders lead to poor execution. His troops executed his orders with the best of their ability but lack of training and breakdown in communication lead to the execution being delayed. All three lessons learned here show how one compliments the others and must not be ignored. Although the South did not always know the exact plan of action for the North, being better organized and executing commands on time keep them ahead of the North throughout the battle.

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