He Defeated Stonewall Jackson... but Lost Bull Run?

5fish

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I found this General who caught all the blame for the lose at the battle of the 1st Bull Run... He earlier had defeated Jackson at the Battle of Hoke run... He was force to resign...


The Battle of Hoke's Run, also known as the Battle of Falling Waters or Battle of Hainesville, took place on July 2, 1861, in Berkeley County, Virginia (now West Virginia) as part of the Manassas campaign of the American Civil War.[1] Notable as an early engagement of Confederate Colonel Thomas J. Jackson and his Brigade of Virginia Volunteers, nineteen days before their famous nickname would originate, this brief skirmish was hailed by both sides as a stern lesson to the other.[2] Acting precisely upon the orders of a superior officer[3] about how to operate in the face of superior numbers, Jackson's forces resisted General Robert Patterson's Union forces briefly and then slowly retreated over several miles

Patterson's retrograde movement took pressure off Confederate forces in the Shenandoah Valley and allowed Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston's Army of the Shenandoah to march to support Brig. Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard at Manassas Junction.[1] Following the stunning Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, the Union commander at Hoke's Run, Robert Patterson, was assigned popular blame without participating while the Confederate commander at Hoke's Run was assigned glory for his actions during the first major battle of the War; thereafter, the two commanders and two engagements, one a brief skirmish and the other a major battle, cannot be uncoupled in retroanalysis

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Patterson

Robert Patterson (January 12, 1792 – August 7, 1881) was an Irish-born United States major general during the American Civil War, chiefly remembered for inflicting an early defeat on Stonewall Jackson, but crucially failing to stop Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston from joining forces with P. G. T. Beauregard at the First Battle of Bull Run. He is still blamed for this historic Union defeat.

The American Civil War brought Patterson back to military service. He was appointed major general of Pennsylvania volunteers and commanded the Department of Pennsylvania and the Army of the Shenandoah. In 1861, Winfield Scott, now General-in-Chief of the U.S. Army, gave Patterson vague orders to retake Harpers Ferry. Patterson failed to immediately act on these orders, was outmaneuvered after the Battle of Hoke's Run, and a Confederate army at Winchester, Virginia, under Brig. Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, was able to march without interference to reinforce the Confederates under P.G.T. Beauregard at the First Battle of Bull Run. Johnston did, however, declare that Patterson’s army had largely deterred him from pursuing the shattered and disorganised Union troops as they retreated back to Washington after the battle.[5] Patterson, widely criticized for his failure to contain the enemy forces, was mustered out of the Army in late July 1861.[
 

5fish

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Here more details on the battle....


The intensity of the Confederate fighting withdrawal caused the union forces to over estimate the Confederate strength by almost ten fold. So although tactically the Battle of Falling Waters was a Union victory, strategically the Confederates were successful. From this point on, Union General Patterson, would be less aggressive, thinking he was up against a larger Confederate force. This allowed General Johnston, along with Jackson's Virginians, to slip away and re-enforce the Confederate troops preparing to fight along Bull Run.
 

5fish

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Here is great little article about the railroad that brought Johnston to the battle of Bull Run...


Johnston marched south to Piedmont Station (present-day Delaplane) on the Manassas Gap Railroad, where his troops entrained to ride east to the battlefield near Bull Run—the first time in history that railroads were used to transport troops to a battlefield. At a crucial point on July 21, they smacked into Union general Irvin McDowell‘s right flank, prompting a Union rout.

In addition to its importance in moving troops and armaments, the Manassas Gap Railroad was important for moving meat—so much so, one historian has described it as “the Meat Line of the Confederacy.” Confederates erected a large meat-packing operation along its tracks at Thoroughfare Gap, with vast amounts of livestock coming from Valley farms. They were slaughtered, processed, and cured early in the conflict, and then transported to Confederate encampments. Moreover, the slaughterhouse was only thirteen miles west of the longer Orange and Alexandria line, carrying cars to far off locations. As the war progressed and Union forces moved in close proximity to the Manassas Gap Railroad, however, it and the packing plant were hastily abandoned and set to the torch.
 

RobertUttef

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