With session basically being official, many different groups and …show more content…
The first major battle was the First Battle of Bull Run which snapped the Union into reality that this war might last more than just a couple of months and gave the Confederates a sense that they might actually win this war. Before this war General McDowell didn’t think the army was ready and that was proven during this battle. The objective of the battle was to capture the town of Manassas, which was an important rail road junction south of DC. This was going to lead a trail to Richmond. One of the Unions disadvantages was that they had no element of surprise. Behind his “army” was reports politicians and people who wanted to picnic and view the battle. This helped Beauregard prepare by getting more troops. After hours of fighting the Union seemed to be winning and even got the southerners to move back some. Still some solders commanded by General Thomas Jackson wanted to win so bad that they stood behind Jackson like he was a stonewall, that’s how he got the nick name Stonewall Jackson, and continued fighting. The union grew tired and retreated giving the south another