3 Chapter 3

4:00 pm July 21st, 1861 Manassas, Virginia

Evans, Bee, and Bartows had been pushed back to below Matthews house hill but had been reinforced by Stuart, Early, Kirby Smith, Cocke, Holmes, and Ewell. The battle line now stretched from the Manassas-Sudley road past Matthews hill to bull run where it turned south along the run to just past balls Ford. A total of 32,000 Confederate troops now sat on the battlefield facing 35,000 federal troops under general McDowell.

Around 4:30, McDowell, being pressed for a victory by president Lincoln, ordered generals Franklin, Porter, Sherman, Wilcox, and Howard to move forward and attack. Their orders were to take the old stone bridge crossing bull run and the areas around it. Confederate pickets spot the advancing federals and a newly trained Confederate radio operator called in an artillery strike with a nearby German giving assistance with coordinates. The federal troops moments later hear dozens of loud explosions, then screeching overhead. Explosions suddenly tear into the federal formations all standing in lines wide in the open.

Union generals Sherman, Burnside, and Hunter are meanwhile riding their horses down Warrenton turnpike, just a mile behind the troops attacking the stone bridge. The three generals slowly mount a rise to see over the battlefield and pause as they see the multiple explosions in and around their attacking troops. The massive artillery barrage and the rapidly thickening fire of rebel troops began to make the men rethink their attack plan as given by McDowell.

General Sherman, watching the battle reaches up and removes the hat off his head, wiping sweat from his brow. " Hot fight our boys are putting up down there, generals." He remarked. Burnside and Hunter, however, has privately discussed the battleplan earlier and didn't agree with Sherman's opinion of the rapidly deteriorating situation below.

Meanwhile while the three generals began arguing their tactics and battleplan, disaster struck far below.

Burnsides troops, facing accurate heavy artillery fire, and a whithering curtain of lead from concealed rebel positions, began to falter in their attack. At first individual soldiers began to throw down their weapons and run. Then dozens began to do so as their panic spread. The fear of capture or death foremost in their minds.

Sherman, seeing the first of his troops run past him fleeing the battlefield, went livid with rage. " Stand your ground!" He bellowed, drawing his sword into the air. " form up on me and fight these rebel scum." He yelled. 800 yards away, private John bulkely of the 12th North Carolina sharpshooters rested in a tree scanning for targets. He had been newly equipped with German weapons, and carried the deadly 8mm Mauser sniper rifle. As he scanned the field a union officer, his sword held high in the air, rode into his view. Bulkely calmly adjusted his rifle and aimed in on the officer who was now beginning to rally a large group of troops. Through his scope he watched the man look left and right as the troops began to line up on him. Bulkely calmly sighted the scope in on the man's chest and gently pulled the trigger. The union troops who had begun to form up on General Sherman saw him fall from the horse. The troops seeing this lost their newfound courage and broke and continued running from the field.

All along the Confederate line the union attacks had been repulsed with a horrible loss of life on the union side. Reports coming into McDowell's Headquarters went from bad to worse. Whole divisions were reporting losses as high as 60 to 70 percent. Some units were so depleted they would never take the field again without massive reinforcements. McDowell sat down heavily on his camp stool, putting his head in his hands in grief. After a few moments silently reflecting on his decisions, he reluctantly gave the orders for the remainder of the army to retreat back North across the Potomac river, and to safety.

July 27th, 1861 Washington DC The White House

Major General Irven McDowell stood at rigid attention before Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln stood silently looking out of his window at the city, his back turned to the general. Lincoln kept thinking back to the debacle at manasses junction while watching the bustling city. Three thousand casualties were the initial estimate, not counting the wounded, missing, and captured. Some reports gave the estimate as 9-10 thousand killed outright. Thinking of this higher number made Lincoln shake his head in disgust. He turned to look at the general. After a brief pause Lincoln silently picked a piece of paper up off of his desk and handed it to McDowell. .

McDowell took the paper and began to silently read it, his face becoming red with anger and embarrassment. Lincoln sat down at his desk, resting his arms on the top and interlocking his fingers while watching the General read. "But sir!" He said loudly. " I have given over my entire life to my career. How this battle progressed has been our of my hands. The enemy..." Lincoln cut him off. " No sir! Manassas ruined your career. along with your gross negligence in commanding your be forces. I might also mention that you ignored any council by your subordinates as well." McDowell, slapped his hand on the desk." The enemy had more men. They has better equipment, and weapons such as I had never seen before." He countered. But Lincoln had grown tired of the whining general and his excuses. He swept his arm quickly through the air in a dismissive gesture. " I know of these reports as well general, all uncorroborated, unproven, and highly exaggerated I'm sure." Lincoln continued. " I will not listen to excuses to cover tour ineptitude, and as a cover for your massive failure. You are hereby relieved of command of the army. Report to Secretary Staunton for reassignment." He ended. McDowell stood and stared at Lincoln a moment, then stormed from his office.

Lincoln sadly shook his head and called for his military adjutant. " Kindly inform general McClellan I would speak with him here in my office at his convenience." The adjutant nodded, saluted and hurried off to carry out his orders.

July 30th, 1861 Jefferson City, Missouri

As the clashes between pro union and pro Confederacy forces in Missouri continued, the pro union forces slowly began to gain the upper hand.

Behind the back of the pro Confederacy governor Claiborne Jackson, his secretary of state, and the lieutenant governor, the pro union forces called for a state convention in Jefferson City to oust the Confederate state for government.

The next day the early morning stillness was broken by a distant rumbling that citizens on the outskirts of the city heard first. Within a few minutes the first elements of the 31st SS Panzer Division (Confederate) came driving into the outer edges of town. Townspeople hid in their homes and businesses in fear from the loud, smoking machines. None had ever seen such metal monsters before. The higher placed pro Confederate government of the state, however had been given advanced warning that the confederacy would be sending in cutting edge military units to protect the elected state government. Word of the new machines spread like wildfire. The small painted on Confederate battleflags on the machines giving their allegiance away. Pro Union forces scrambled to exit the city from the opposite direction, trying mightly to avoid the Confederate forces.

One group of brave union forces decided that they would have a better chance barricaded in a strong building. It might also possibly give the retreating union troops the time to evacuate. The group of 30 men led by a Sergeant Albert Oriel of the 5th Pennsylvania Infantry commanded the group. Downtown they found the Jefferson City Bank. The building was built from solid sections of stone and had few windows to protect. It was perfect for him and his men and they went into the building barricading the door and taking up positions to fire at the enemy as they came up the dusty street.

After several minutes they could hear a rumbling that slowly got louder. Suddenly a giant metal monstrosity came around the corner on to the main Street that passed the bank. It was followed not by I'll equipped militia as he had been told, but by strangely uniformed troops who appeared well equipped. Slowly Sergeant Oriel sighted his rifle on the machine and pulled the trigger. Then lowering his gun he stared in shock as his bullet ricocheted off of it with a spark.

The crew in the tank has heard the bullet hit the tank, and the commander ordered a halt. The commander, using his periscope to see around spotted the barricaded bank door. He smiled to himself and turned the turret to face the bank. Outside a few citizens had run up and, pointing at the bank, told the infantry that the last of the federals had holed up in there. The infantry captain commanding the troops dashed to the back of the tiget tank, and opened a small door in the rear revealing a handset. Through it he informed the tank commander of this news and he told him to put a few rounds in the building to flush them out.

I side the commander ordered the loader to load an HE shell, or high explosive. "Up!" yelled the loader. informing the Gunner the cannon was loaded. Then the gunner, looking through his gun sight at the bank door yelled, " On the way" , and fired.

The cannon fire threw dust and dirt in the air from the concussion which mixed with the white powdery dust that used to be bank building stone. One lucky shot had collapsed the building, ending their brief defense. A few union men came wobbling out of the rubble only to be shot down by the Infantry in the street. This was the last defense put up by the union forces in Missouri. By 10 pm that evening Governor Claiborne telegraphed President Davis that the great state of Missouri was firmly in Confederate hands.