The Bull Run Battle was fought on August 1863, and was between the Confederates and the Union. The Confederates were led by Lee while the Pope commanded the Union. The two camps were looking for supremacy and trying to set out which is stronger than the other. One thing to note about the fight is that they both would agree when to fight and when to hold a truce.
Despite Lee having emerged victorious in the Seven Day Campaign, he was worried about his strategic position. McClellan’s army on the other hand was still at Harrison’s Landing. Even though they were blooded, they still had power.
At the same time, the Burnside had a troop of 15,000 men who could strike at any time. The Union force that was led by Hooker was large in number at Fredericksburg. The most alarming was however the force that the Pope led. The force occupied Culpeper and if the Pope moved on with his advances, he would take over Gordonsville and thus cut off supplies to Richmond from Shenandoah Valley.
Lee was not ready to let that happen and thus sent the division being led by Jackson to cut off the Pope. He arrived first before the Pope could. Under orders, Jackson advanced on Pope’s forces near Cedar Mountain. Initially, the Pope was on the advantaged side but his forces later on repulsed at the last moment. The Confederates thus went on the offensive side,
This August 9th battle ended in a stalemate. On the 10th, the battle was not resumed. The Union forces sought for a truce on 11th. The intention was to get time to tend for the dead and wounded. Jackson agreed to this. At this juncture, the forces in the Pope’s camp continued to be reinforced. Thus, Jackson decided to withdraw. Despite his decision, he had successfully managed to thwart the advances of the Pope.
The strategic advantage was thus on Lee at this time. General Halleck was chosen as the new US forces commander. When McClellan indicated he would not make any new advances without sufficient reinforcement, he was ordered by Halleck to withdraw from James River. He was needed to just focus his forces against the Pope.
Lee’s window to attack opened at a time when McClellan’s army was on transit. His forces teamed up with that of Jackson to fight the Pope. Lee had plans to attack the pope. However, on 19th, the Pope withdrew behind Rappahannock before he could be attacked. Any attempts by Lee to cross over were thwarted. His only way to succeed was thus to send the cavalry that Jeb Stuart commanded. He was able to use this to seize the personal baggage of the Pope.
As a result of this successful raid, Lee decided to make a larger attack. Jackson’s troops were thus sent to flank the Pope. The troops successfully struck the Pope’s supply in the Orange area. They later on flee and the Pope lost sight of them.
A day after the raid, the Pope ordered for an attack against Jackson’s lines. The Pope had the advantage of numbers but the positions taken by Jackson’s troops made it impossible for him to deploy all his troops. The Confederates and Jackson started to withdraw. This was however a deception since they were being reinforced and thus he was not able to beat Jackson.
In the morning, the Union forces were met with shock as they tried to attack Jackson.
The battle went on for some time until the troops in the Jackson’s camp grew tired. They were thus repulsed, but at the cost of two Union generals death. The battle came to an end when the Union forces were too strong for the Confederates to win.