The Most Surprising Battle of the Civil War

This video is dedicated to Wes Byers (1956-2021).

Mr. Beat tells you about that time or two a sitting U.S. President got in trouble for breaking the law.

Produced by Matt Beat. All images/video by Matt Beat, found in the public domain or creative commons (credits listed in video), or used under fair use guidelines. Music by Quinn Parsley.

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#civilwar #ushistory #apush

Here’s the story of a picnic that got interrupted by a major American Civil War battle.

I recently went to the site of it. It’s quite a lovely area, honestly. About 30 miles southwest of Washington, D.C. in northern Virginia. Today, it’s so peaceful, but on July 21, 1861, it was the site of horrifying death and destruction. But let’s back up a bit. Three months prior was the Battle of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina. A new country had seceded from the United States called the Confederate States of America. On April 13, 1861, some rebel Confederate soldiers had successfully taken over an American fort, marking the beginning of the American Civil War . It was after the bombardment of Fort Sumter that all of a sudden there was widespread support from both the North and South to fight.

President Abraham Lincoln declared that the Southern states that seceded had broken the law, essentially calling it an insurrection. In response, 750,000 men volunteered to fight the rebels. Many of them had no military experience whatsoever.

Americans seemed pumped up, man. Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune proclaimed “Forward to Richmond! The Rebel Congress must not be allowed to meet there on the 20th of July!” By the way, Richmond, Virginia, was now the capital of the newly formed Confederate States of America. Many Americans believed that capturing Richmond would quickly end the insurrection. By July, thousands of volunteers had camped in Washington, D.C., excited to fight as part of what became known as the Union Army, or Northern Army.

Lincoln, realizing he had to take bold action, picked an inexperienced major named Irvin McDowell to lead around 35,000 men down to Richmond. It would be the largest field army ever gathered on the North American continent up to that point.

[iammrbeat]

Soooo....should I even attempt tackling some more military history?

[armedmage]

I'd love to see you do more military history, especially the American Revolution and Civil War.

R.I.P Uncle Wes.

[swoo]

If you’ve never heard the song “Bull Run” by Claude King it sums up this battle very well and is a very interesting piece of music

[chance_ondriezek]

In my psychology class one of my fellow students wrote a paper on how anxiety affected President Lincoln during the Civil War.
I can’t imagine how he felt seeing his own country ripping itself apart. I don’t think I want to either

[ugoewulonu]

Another great video and I’m sorry for your loss. Your videos have provided me and others with not only hours of entertainment but alot of knowledge and history. Your uncle would be very proud!

[assafrotbach]

I was scared that we wouldnt get a long video today, now everything is all good

[Ducc]

Read about this as a kid, it was really cool and I loved the story. Glad you're shining light on it again.

[Nehru]

Hey Mr Beat, I'm a high school teacher and you really inspire me. I always go back to your Presidential election videos and your earlier videos about History topics like the one in this video. Maybe you can make ones like these more often. Your original back up music from your band was cool, I don't hear you using it in your videos anymore. Anyways keep doing what you do man.

[Jollefjoll]

Sorry to hear about your loss. Finding and watching through your videos have been a great pleasure this past few months.
Love from a fellow (English, History & Philosophy) teacher in Sweden.

[hoodclassicsofcalifornia]

Mr. Beat we need some more US Civil War videos! I would be hyped to see a video about General Tecumseh Sherman's battle down in the South

[RDMusic]

I'm from Manassas; this is a pretty great video that hits the major marks of the battle. I found your channel last year during the election "shenanigans." Thanks for the upload, and I hope you do dabble into some more military history videos in the future.

[thorgot]

Dang I missed you. I live down the street from the battlefields and I run the trails every day.

[markguttag]

Mr. Beat, thanks for the video. I live in Northern Virginia and have visited the Manassas National Battlefield Park numerous times. If you ever do a more detailed video on the 2nd Battle of Manassas (2nd Battle of Bull Run), something that might be interesting to point out and show, possibly using a Park map, is how much larger the battlefield was for the 2nd Battle of Manassas than for the 1st Battle of Manassas. I think the difference in size between the two battlefields conveys just how much bigger the armies in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War had become between 1861 and 1862. As visitor the Manassas National Battlefield Park, you are indirectly made aware of this, by the fact that you can pretty much see all of the important sites of the 1st Battle of Manassas by walking less than 100 yards in several directions from visitor center and looking around. In contrast, to see all of the important sites of the 2nd Battle of Manassas, most people take a car to visit the various driving tour stops.

[TheAndrewSchneider]

Yes! More military history would be very excellent indeed!

[matthewbob_moostachepants]

Man nice job on this one mr beat I was actually doing a bit of research on the first battle of bull run and I thought it was pretty interesting that the second one was at the exact same location I also found out that one of my relatives was part of the Rhode Island militia during that time and actually fought in the battle so that’s pretty awesome as well but ya honestly i would like to see more of this honestly especially the convo that the union general and Jackson had I found that to be of piticular interest

[jollyswashbuckler]

You greatly explain the strategy and the tactics with the animations, you should make more videos about the civil war about antietam, gettysburg, and the gettysburg of the west, keep up the good work

[enepesf]

I encourage you to make military history videos if a specific topic interests you :) I like looking at them sometimes cause it gives a better explanation for why one side won a battle and the other didn't

[chrisnemec]

re: 1:24: A fun side note to history: because many of the soldiers in the Civil War were very inexperienced with war and had no weapon experience, a captain by the name of George Wood Wingate suggested that a civilian group be founded to improve marksmanship for men so that when we had to go to war again, the USA would be more ready. This group evolved into the National Rifle Association.

[DeathWatch]

Great video, Mr. Beat!! Please keep making military history videos, you did really well with this. Your style of storytelling makes me intrigued with the history!

[MrGremlins]

Really enjoyed this video. As a young Scotsman I know very little about the American civil war but it has always interested me. I was never taught about it in my school and I would love to learn more about it through your videos