Trinity College Trinity College Digital Repository Senior Theses and Projects Student Scholarship Spring 2012 A Resolution Strong and Deep: the First Battle of Bull Run and its Impact on Connecticut Erin Y. Dorsey Trinity College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses Part of the Military History Commons, Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Dorsey, Erin Y., "A Resolution Strong and Deep: the First Battle of Bull Run and its Impact on Connecticut". Senior Theses, Trinity College, Hartford, CT 2012. Trinity College Digital Repository, https://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/theses/164 A Resolution Strong and Deep: the First Battle of Bull Run and its Impact on Connecticut Erin Yvonne Dorsey History Senior Thesis Advisor: Scott Gac Spring, 2012 Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………...2 Introduction – The Battle of Bull Run …………………………………………….…...3 Part I. Connecticut Soldiers Chapter One – Passion Before the Storm: Connecticut Soldiers from Enlistment to the Battle of Bull Run ………….……..............................................................................……..10 Chapter Two – The Storm’s Aftermath: Connecticut Soldiers’ Responses to the Battle of Bull Run ……………………………………………. ………………………………...….…...32 Part II. Connecticut Politicians and Politics Chapter Three – Connecticut Politics: A Brief History and the Opening Months of the Civil War .………………………………………………………………………………..56 Chapter Four – Connecticut Politics: A Surge of Tension After the Union’s Loss at Bull Run ……………………………………………………………………………….……80 Epilogue – The Changes Inflicted By Bull Run on Connecticut Politicians and Soldiers …………………………………………………………………….……...104 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………..106 1 Acknowledgements Many people helped me through this process for which I am very grateful. I am incredibly grateful to Professor Gac who was not only my thesis advisor, but also my academic advisor for the past two years. I am so thankful for his support, guidance, and providing me with videos like “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” which made me laugh and greatly eased the stress of work. I also owe a great deal to Professor Haberman who thoroughly edited my thesis and helped me to discover for deeper meaning in each text and source. Also, thank you to Professor Lestz, our fearless Team Thesis leader. I am so thankful for our weekly class meetings, your guidance, and your confidence in me. A huge thank you to Professor Chatfield, my first advisor at Trinity and the person who sparked my passion for the Civil War. I credit him with generating my love and enthusiasm for history. I am also very thankful to Ms. Hart and Mr. Liszka for helping me find a huge number of sources used to write this paper and supporting me throughout this process. Thanks to the many people at the Connecticut Historical Society and the Connecticut State Library who allowed me to research and look at primary sources for hours on end. I am positive that without my roommates, completing my thesis would not have been possible. The countless trips to Chipotle and Starbucks, the hours they were forced to listen to my thesis playlist, and the motivation they provided me with when I so badly wanted to sleep surely helped me write and finish my thesis. Thanks so much Sarah and Nichola. I especially must thank my roommate Paige who not only went through this thesis process with me, but also helped me so much by lending me her car, coming with me to do research, and truly just for being my partner in crime (since freshman year I might add). Being roommates for two years and taking eight classes together throughout college normally might make people sick of each other, but I will greatly miss you all the way from “Canada-lite,” unless I freeze to death. And of course, none of this would have been possible without my parent’s support and love. In particular I must thank my father for continuously trying to teach me how to edit papers effectively. I know that you helped me become a better writer. And thanks to my mom who supported me and pushed me to work harder than ever before. 2 Introduction The Battle of Bull Run Gone were the spring days when some had poked fun at the very idea of secession, or mockingly believed Southerners would flee the field of battle and quickly return to the Union. Bull Run had dashed such hopes. It had also sparked a significant peace movement, which revealed that not everyone in the state supported a war to coerce Southern loyalty. Some believed that Connecticut, Hartford especially, was a nest of traitors. If true, it was not enough to stop the much more widespread patriotism that poured forth from around the state. 1 Lieutenant Bolles of Captain Lewis’ Company in the Third Connecticut Regiment survived the Battle of Bull Run, the first battle of the Civil War. In a letter home dated July 23, 1861 just two days after the battle he recounted his company’s participation. He recalled that he and his men fought nobly. The Union’s loss, Bolles mused, was a result of the troops’ failure to find a weak point in the rebel formation, which was impossible to do because “Gen. Johnston, (rebel), sent forward 15,000 rebel troops against us, [and] when the 71 st and 72d New York fell back, the result was a perfect stampede among our troops.” 2 Bolles and the rest of Lewis’ Company fled from the battlefield while serving as the rear-guard to the baggage train. Bolles described two rebel cavalry attacks while also guarding the Union lines falling back. “We succeeded in keeping them off until the rebels opened a fire from their flying artillery of shot, shell, and grape, that of course with only 55 men we could not contend with, and out Captain received orders to retreat, which we did in good order.” 3 Physically and mentally exhausted, 1. Matthew Warshauer, Connecticut in the American Civil War: Slavery, Sacrifice, and Survival (Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 2011), 70. 2. “From the Third Regiment,” Hartford Daily Courant , July 26, 1861. 3. “From the Third Regiment,” Hartford Daily Courant , July 26, 1861. 3 Bolles and his comrades reached the Union camp in the early morning. Despite their pain, Bolles praised his men and leaders for their brave soldiery at Bull Run. 4 Connecticut soldiers’ experience, like Bolles’, reflected that of most Union troops at Bull Run. July 21, 1861 would go down in history as one of the Union’s greatest losses in the Civil War. Near Manassas, Virginia, the 30,000 Union troops, under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell took on the Confederates led by Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard. 5 McDowell’s attack plan was believed to be foolproof by those in the Union; even historians today agree that it was inspired. His strategy, though, required perfect coordination among the leading Union generals, which would not happen in the battle. 6 McDowell planned to send two-thirds of the army against Beauregard, while the remaining third cut the rail line off to Richmond at Manassas Junction where some of the confederate troops were stationed. 7 McDowell wanted General Robert Patterson, leader of 15,000 Union troops, to stop rebel General Joseph E. Johnston from meeting with Beauregard. If he failed, the Confederates would have equal numbers to the Yankees at Manassas, which would easily prevent a Union win. 8 Slow to move, Patterson failed to stop Johnston’s move to Manassas, thus providing the Confederates a level playing field. By July 21, McDowell had delayed his attack numerous times because of food and supply shortages, plan alterations and improvements, and scouting. Nevertheless, at Bull Run, the Union Army was able to put forth a strong effort against the Confederates for most of the day. At one point the Union troops pushed the Confederates back, giving them hope. As the win slipped away from the rebels, Confederates called for reinforcements who then turned the tables 4. “From the Third Regiment,” Hartford Daily Courant , July 26, 1861. 5. Warshauer, Connecticut in the American Civil War , 57. 6. Warshauer, Connecticut in the American Civil War , 57. 7. Warshauer, Connecticut in the American Civil War , 57. 8. James McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era (Oxford: University Press, 1988), 339. 4 and caused a Union loss at Henry House Hill. 9 The Union army gave rise to the legend of “Stonewall” Jackson at the Hill where he saved the Confederates with his troops.10 Confusion over Confederate uniforms and Yankee uniforms could also be attributed to the Union’s loss because the Union soldiers stopped firing on the enemy, after mistaking them for Yankees. This misunderstanding destroyed two Union artillery batteries’ guns and caused Yankee soldiers to run in a panic. 11 After the Union troops lost control, it took little time for the Confederates to finish the battle. In the early evening, the Union troops rushed from the now bloody battlefield towards Centreville, leaving much of their arms and supplies behind. 12 The Connecticut troops, among the last to leave the battlefield, did not retreat, but forced the Confederates to turn away from the Union army, thus preventing a likely devastating Confederate charge. 13 This action saved Washington and the Union army. 14 The Battle of Bull Run obviously did not go as planned or expected, Those in the Union were shocked to learn their army had lost to the rebels, especially since the latest dispatches that Sunday reported their probable win. The Hartford Daily Courant in Hartford, Connecticut would even celebrate the news of the Union’s triumph the following day, only to learn that the Union army had taken a turn for the worse. Because no one expected the loss at Bull Run, it gave those in the Union, and Connecticut in particular, quite a shock.