Right: Chromolithograph of First Battle of Bull Run by Kurz & Allison, 1889, Photograph copy within the Public Domain.

"... the battle of Manassas (or Bull Run, as the North named it) was one of the most decisive tactical victories of the war." (McPherson, 1988, p. 346) The battle was a victory for the South, and "Manassas was 'one of the decisive battles of the world,' wrote political leader Thomas R.R. Cobb of Georgia." (McPherson, 1988, p. 347) "About 400 Confederates were killed and 1,600 wounded, of whom some 225 would die of their wounds. The Union forces also lost about 625 killed and mortally wounded, 950 non-mortally wounded, and more than 1,200 captured." (McPerson, 1988, p. 347)

Troop size for the Confederates: 4,500 and approximately 10,000 for the Union. (MacPherson, 1988, p.341)

Left: Historic Henry House and cannons at Manassas National Battlefield Park in Manassas, Virginia, today. Photograph licensed to War History Network.

In the days immediately after the battle, President Abraham Lincoln and George B. McClellan moved to create the new Army of the Potomoc which the latter would lead. The paradox of the Confederate victory lie in that "its legacy of confidence both hurt and helped the South; the humiliation and renewed determination both hurt and helped the North." (McPherson, 1988, p. 350)

Right: Sunset view of the statue of Andrew Jackson at Manassas Civil War battlefield where the Bull Run battle was fought. Henry House is in the middleground. The statue was acquired for the nation in 1940. Photograph licensed to War History Network.

The significance of Henry House Hill is thus: "For several hours during the afternoon, fierce but uncoordinated attacks and counterattacks surged back and forth across Henry House Hill (named for the home of Judith Henry, a bedridden widow who insisted on remaining in her house and was killed by a shell. Men whom the war would make famous were in the thick of the fighting; on the Union side Ambrose E. Burnside, William Tecumseh Sherman, and Oliver O. Howard, each of whom commanded a brigade and would command an army before the war was over; on the Confederate side P.G.T. Beauregard and Joseph E. Johnston, the former in field command and the latter in overall command; along with James E.B. ("Jeb") Stuart..." (MacPherson, 1988, p. 341)