Battle at Bull Run: A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War

by William C. Davis

The first major history ever written on the first battle of the Civil War, this narrative describes the chaotic fighting by courageous amateurs that nearly resulted in Confederate independence.

Genres: Civil War, History, American Civil War, Civil War Eastern Theater, Civil War History, Military History, Nonfiction

298 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1977

About the author

Currently professor of history at Virginia Tech, William C. Davis has written over fifty books, most about the American Civil War. He has won the Jefferson Davis Prize for southern history three times, the Jules F. Landry Award for Southern history once, and has been twice nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

For several years, he was the editor of the magazine Civil War Times Illustrated. He has also served as a consultant on the A&E television series Civil War Journal.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

['Aussie Rick' · Rating 4 out of 5]

This new and revised edition of Battle at Bull Run: A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War (first published in 1977) offers the reader a splendid narrative of the first major battle of the American Civil War. On the 21st of July 1861, 60,000 American soldiers from the North and South met along the banks of Bull Run. In the fighting that followed the Union forces lost 2,900 out of the 20,000 men engaged while the Confederates lost 2,000 out of about 17,000 engaged.

The first half of the book describes the Union and Confederate forces as they muster their men into the first armies of the Civil War. It continues with an outline of the events' leading up to the battle and gives you a feeling for, and an understanding of, the main characters involved. Future heroes and leaders of the Civil War come to the fore, such men as `Stonewall' Jackson, Jeb Stuart, A.P. Hill, Jubal Early and Joseph E. Johnston for the Confederacy and men like William T. Sherman, Ambrose Burnside and Irvin McDowell for the Union.

The final chapters describe the fighting from Blackburn's Ford to the final rout of the Union Forces on the evening of the 21st. The author's description of the intense fighting is gripping and written in such a fluent style that it holds you to the narrative. Although the casualties for this engagement were not significant when compared to those bloody battles that followed you still feel for the individual soldiers who were caught up in this terrible War.

This book is an enjoyable and easy to read story and is well presented by a number of photographs taken at the time of the battle or shortly after. The author has included 8 small, but easy to read maps that help you follow the outline of events during the battle. This book is recommended to any body who has a love for this period of history or to the general reader who likes a good story.

[Joseph (Sonny) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my second book by William C. Davis. I cam acorss William Davis from watching the "Civil War Journal" on the history channel. He has the ability to put historical facts into a narrative that is informative and yet interesting even knowing the outcome. I did find that the maps could have been better but the flow of the battle was sill easy to follow. His history of the Alamo, "Three Roads to the Alamo" tells a wonderful story of the men Bowie, Travis, and Crocket and the true facts of the battle for Texas independents warts and all. I think writers like him, Dorothy Kerns Goodwin, and David McCullaugh are wonderful story tellers.
" Those who do not remeber the past are doomed to repeat it"

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a longtime historian of the Civil War, William C. Davis has written extensively about the conflict. This is one of his earliest works, a study of the campaign fought in northeastern Virginia in the summer of 1861. Davis's skills as a writer are on full display, as he provides an entertaining narrative that details the events of the battle as best he can. The book suffers, though, from a paucity of maps; those provided are only for the battle itself, and these are of inferior quality. This is the only serious criticism of the book, however, which remains the best single-volume study of the first major clash between the Union and the Confederacy.

[Heinz Reinhardt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Review forthcoming.

[Mac · Rating 4 out of 5]

In reading William Davis's "Battle at Bull Run," I was shocked at times at how unfamiliar so many of the names were to me. I have been immersing myself in the history of the Civil War, yet I had never heard of some of the key characters in the opening drama. The Battle of Bull Run was the largest fight on the American continent up to that point, yet it would soon be dwarfed by battles like Shiloh, Antietam, and Gettysburg. It was highly instructive to go back to the very first big battle to see how the opposing armies and officers learned the awful business of fighting that would consume the nation for the next four years. William Davis is a fine writer who elucidates all aspects of the battle, with good coverage of each side's preparations after the fall of Fort Sumter and the reasons why Manassas Junction was considered so crucial. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the first act of the Civil War.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty good account of the Civil War's first major battle, but somehow Davis' presentation of it didn't really "pop" for me.

[Mark Blanchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Davis has penned a very accessible narrative of the first significant battle of the American Civil War. Without killing the story by dragging out the pretext, Davis adequately establishes the context leading up to and the conditions that ultimately caused shots to be fired. Once the battle is reached, he continues with just enough details to explain while not dragging the reader into the weeds and drowning the interested but not scholarly reader in names and obscure locations. The book has enough citations to establish the author’s bona fides, but does not overwhelm.

Three points stick out for me. First, Davis does a good job of navigating back and forth between the Union and Confederate perspective on the same specifics. This may be his strength here. Second, Davis offers the right amount of interpretation with support, mostly on the leadership and choices of the three primary commanders - McDowell, Johnston, and Beauregard (probably four with Patterson). Finally, Davis uses just enough anecdote to personalize the broad narrative, from both the officers and the private soldier.

This is a great model of a well-researched study of a Civil War battle intended for the educated student who is looking for a solid entry point that may lead to further study.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've long had a pretty good idea of how the first battle of Bull Run unfolded; now, having read this, I have an even better idea. Especially good for me was learning of General Patterson's errors in the Shenandoah Valley, the engagement at Blackburn's Ford, exactly how the tide turned in favor of the Rebs on Henry House Hill, and the cannon shot that turned retreat into a rout at the bridge over Cub Run, all in less than three hundred pages. The maps weren't so good; rendered in small print, they were hard to read. On page 91, the author quotes a private in Burnside's brigade as writing his wife the same lines Major Sullivan Ballou wrote his wife, which achieved some fame in Ken Burns' "The Civil War" on PBS. Well, someone wrote them and they were both in a Rhode Island regiment under Burnside....just a minor difference in pay grade!

[Richard A · Rating 3 out of 5]

An informative description of the campaign and battle of the First Bull Run. The writing style is concise and pleasant. My one big complaint (I often have the same complaint about Civil War books!) is that the inadequate number of maps and their poor quality. In a battel description, there are so many geographical references that adequate maps are critical to follow the text. It si unfortunate that this book fails on that one important score. The first map appears on page 161 after the entire campaign has been described. Thus, there is not a single map showing the regional set-up or long-range movements of the armies. The maps that are shown are all variations of a single master map of the battle showing an area of roughly 4 miles by 4 miles.

[Brian Miracle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good account of the First Manassas Campaign and Battle, the first major campaign of the Civil War. Davis discusses the events leading up to the battle, including the events that forced McDowell, the Union general, to fight before he really was ready.

At 262 pages, the book is a relatively quick read. One issue I had was that the maps are of somewhat poor quality. However, I remedied that by referring to a Civil War atlas and the online maps from the American Battlefield Trust. Overall, this is a good introduction to the Battle of First Manassas.

[Billy Leon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty good read. Mr. Davis hits all the marks involving the narrative of this work. The flow of the read is very good with hardly if any speedbumps along the way. One small typographical error toward the end of the book that was virtually inconsequential to the entire read. It was informative and easy to follow for the most part. What it lacked however, and would have been vital to somebody reading this book as a research or even homework project, was that the book does not have a table that includes an order of battle, or a summary of regimental casualties. There is a paragraph about general casualties in the text, and even a few words about fallen officers, but not much information about losses suffered by individual regiments. Had the work included this, I think would have definitely earned itself a 5th star in the eyes of this reader.

[Jake Schell · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good overview of the events leading up to the battle and how the battle played out. Most of what I had read about the battle was the Union retreat. This book reveals how there were engagements seen as victory by the Union prior to the ultimate collapse. Recommend for anyone wanting to know more about this first major battle of the Civil War.

[Matthew William · Rating 5 out of 5]

Classic Civil War literature!!!

[JeffParrotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A classic and very informative. But a bit dated - relies too much on memoirs, while the lack of maps (as others have mentioned) makes comprehension a bit of a challenge.

[R. Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Obviously a well-researched book, and technically well written. But man, this was so hard to read. Davis does an excellent job describing the campaign of the Battle of Bull Run, and really helps the reader understand why the two armies clashed where they did. But he introduces too much too fast, each paragraph describing another regiment or minor colonel so rapidly that it became hard to follow. The battle itself isn't narrated quite as well as the campaign, which is a shame. Davis also displays a strong anti-Beauregard bias which, while kind of funny, makes it hard not to wonder at the objectivity of the rest of the book.

[Greg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very surprising that this was so good. One of the older books I found at McMurtry's bookstore in Archer City. Liked how Davis told such detailed and well thought out account of battle, yet still showed the characters with "life" in them. Some of the information about the characters seemed to validate some of the outrageous characterizaations of Reger, which suggests this is one of his sources that he didn't serve very well.

[Rich · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice overview of the campaign, and decent overview of the battle. Mr Davis seriously does not like PGT Beauregard, though, and this colors some of his analysis, so it's best to keep that in mind as you read 'Battle at Bull Run.' Also, there are occasional, minor inaccuracies that don't affect the flow of the narrative, but are nonetheless troubling.

[Geoff Steele · Rating 2 out of 5]

detailed, 297 pages describing the events leading up to; and then 1st major battle of the civil war. Anequedotes and actual battle dialog noted. Famous 'Stonewall' description by Bee, who died in the battle. This was a harder book to read.

[Straw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yawn...the details are there but oh, how boring the writing was.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first Baattle of Bull Run was a disaster for the Union. Also the federal retreat was hampered by the crowds of picnicers from the capital who came to see the rebels traashed.

[Matthew Ericson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a solid work, it had some errors. But overall a decent read.