The Second Bull Run Campaign: July-August 1862

Great Campaigns

by David G. Martin

Second Bull Run (or Second Manassas, as it was known in the South) is considered by many to be the greatest example of Robert E. Lee's tactical genius. It was also the final humiliation for John Pope, the Union general who had been personally selected by Abraham Lincoln to come East and lead the Union army to victory in northern Virginia. In the summer of 1862, George McClellan’s Union army was bogged down east of Richmond. In order to break this stalemate, Union officials decided to create a new army in northern Virginia and send it against Richmond from the north. Confederate commander Robert E. Lee, fresh from his costly victory against McClellan in the Seven Days Battle, mad a bold decision to risk leaving McClellan in place in order to strike a decisive blow against Pope’s new army.Second Bull Run was the culmination of a series of maneuvers by which Lee, Longstreet, Jackson and Stuart outmarched the larger Union command and outgeneraled its confused commanders. The book’s campaign approach also shows the relationship of the culminating battle to the related battles at Cedar Mountain, Groveton and Chantilly. The Second Bull Run Campaign includes fourteen specially commissioned maps by Paul Dangel, the most up-to-date order of battle available, and special sidebars on leaders, units, incidents and controversies of the campaign. Connections between the First and Second Bull Run battles are examined, the battlefields as they are today are described, and suggestions for futher study are made in a descriptive bibliography and reader’s guide.

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

204 pages, Hardcover

First published November 21, 1996

Reviews

['Aussie Rick' · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third book I have read from the Combined Books 'Great Campaign' series and I must admit also the best so far. Although it only offers a concise account of the events leading up to the battle, the battle itself and the aftermath (all in 256 odd pages) it is still a very good read.

The author offers an excellent story about this blotched campaign with 14 good maps to help follow the action and a number of topical sidebars for further information (I liked the one about the oldest surviving soldiers of the battle!). This is a well researched and well presented book and it was pleasure to read. I am sure that there are a number of very detailed books covering this battle/campaign and the author offers a number of good choices for further reading.

For example; 'Return to Bull Run' by John Hennessy and 'Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain' by Robert Krick, however this book wets your appetite for taking the plunge and aquiring a more in depth volume or it may certainly satisfy your interest with just this account. I would recommend this book for anyone looking for a decent account of this battle.

One point in regard to this book is that a small number of typo errors were noticed which should have been picked up by the editor, but once again it did not detract from the value of the book, a good story!

[Heinz Reinhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Part of (now defunct) Combined Publishing's 'Great Campaigns' series, this fairly slender volume managed to pack a lot of detail and analysis on the Second Manassas Campaign into a relatively short amount of pages.
This is the only book, to my knowledge, that exists which covers the entirety of the Campaign to include the early maneuvers along the Rapidan and near Gordonsville, the Battle of Cedar Mountain, and then the September 1st Battle (really, more of a large skirmish) at Chantilly/Ox Hill. Second Bull Run, as a whole, is a badly understudied Campaign of the War Between the States, likely because it is sandwiched between the Seven Days and Antietam. Nevertheless, I have always wished more military historians would tackle the subject, so for now, this is one of only two full length studies of the Battle and Campaign out there. (The other is Return to Bull Run by John Henessey, perhaps the best Campaign study on any US Civil War engagement).
Martin's writing is fairly good, although as was very common with Combined Publishing, typos are an issue. His analysis throughout is very good, in my opinion.
While Martin certainly thinks Lee the better General, Martin does not fall into the trap of automatically assuming Pope was a dunce. As Martin points out, early in the Campaign Pope held his own and frustrated Lee's desire to strike a decisive blow between the Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers. Pope also utilized his cavalry adroitly, and were it not for ultimately misreading Jackson's intentions following the sacking of the Manassas Junction supply depot (the word depot doesn't do the sites massive scale justice, it was a huge Federal logistical center, which the Confederates outright trashed), Pope had constructed an excellent plan to trap.and destroy Jackson's isolated Corps.
Martin's handling of the three day Battle of Second Manassas itself is very good. The second day was one of the most confusing, disjointed, and bloody days of fighting in the war, and Martin manages to make sense of the continuous Federal assaults, and the Rebel's response to them. And despite handling the Battle so poorly till this point, on day three, when Longstreet's Corps launches (I believe the largest of the war) it's grand infantry assault which crushes Pope's left flank, Martin points out that Pope did very well in constructing a new defensive line centered first on Chinn Ridge, and then on Henry House Hill. This desperate fighting by the Federals saved the Army of Virginia from destruction, but could not save the Yankees from yet another drubbing along Bull Run.
For being a relatively short work, Martin manages to tell the story completely, and does a very good job of pointing out why Pope did better than many give him credit for despite his ultimate failure. And in so doing, Martin acknowledges that Lee managed a masterpiece in northern Virginia during the Campaign.
A very good, brief, work on a criminally understudied Campaign of the War Between the States.
Highly recommended.

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gets off to a shaky start (both in terms of annoying typos and lack of focus), but then settles down and offers a solid overview of the campaign. One of the informational "sidebars" relating to Fitz John Porter's downfall offers a great synopsis of that entire episode.

[Josh Liller · Rating 2 out of 5]

Decent writing, but too many typos.

[Jimmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like other books in the Great Campaigns series, pretty short book but still good overview of the campaign, with some good sidebars on individual generals and other topics.