On farms and plantations North and South, early morning chores are underway when Union artillery fire at 5:15 a.m. breaks the silence of dawn at Manassas Junction, Virginia on this Sabbath day. The Battle of Manassas (so-named in the South) or Bull Run (in the North) has begun. U.S. Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell’s Union forces…
In northern Virginia Brig. Gen. Joe Johnston’s Confederate Army and Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell’s Union Army jockey for position as they prepare for battle. On both sides are Episcopalians, Methodists, Presbyterians, Catholics, Jews … and Baptists. The men of faith within the armies, as the others, carry weapons and are ready to kill the enemy…
Their spirits bolstered by victory at the skirmish known as the Battle of Blackburn’s Ford, Confederate forces, anticipating a clash with U.S. Brig. Gen. Irvin McDowell’s 35,000 troops, begin consolidating in preparation. Some troops arrive in the Manassas area by train, the first time in history for troops to be transported by train. Meanwhile, in…