Bull Run Cannons

The first battle of bull run also known as the first Manassas was the bloodiest battle the nation had seen at that point. It all started on july 21st, 1861 near the city of Manassas in Virginia. There were two armies the Union and the Confederates. Both sides had many strengths and weaknesses throughout the war and they played factors.This battle’s view changed over the course of the battle because they thought it was going to be a quick and easy battle but it was not. Many deaths, missing, and wounded people followed with this battle.

General Pierre Beauregard, commander of Confederate troops at the Battle of First Bull Run and second-in-command during the Battle of Shiloh, commented that the enemy was given "...the most surprising surprise" but the delays allowed Union reinforcements to take their place on the battlefield beside their comrades and drive the rebels back after two days of fighting. No ground was gained, no strategic town was taken, no supply depot was sacked, but the Union victory did force the evacuation of Confederate troops from much of Tennessee and split the rebel forces along the lines formed by the Mississippi River.

The Civil War, composed of the Union run by numerous generals replacing one another, and the Confederacy lead by Robert E. Lee, was and still is one of the most gruesome wars in American History, and the Battle of Gettysburg is considered by most as an incredible turning point of the war. This is due to how the Union brought down the Confederacy’s winning streak, and gave the Confederacy a huge blow to their manpower, supplies, and overall strength to win (Battle of Gettysburg, 1). Robert E. Lee, though a great general throughout the Civil War, was a failure during the Battle Gettysburg because he was not able to get his men to their jobs done in time. Another reason he was a failure was because of his plan to attack again on July 3rd which

gunpowder itself. Such as where was it originated, when was it originated, and how did it

The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh starts as reinforcements from General Buell’s Army of the Ohio and a unit of Grant’s own reserve division joined the Union Army now positioned at Pittsburg Landing. These reinforcements added over 22,500 men to the Union lines13 bringing the total number of Union forces to over 45,000, which is more than they had on 6 April, the first day of fighting.14 On April 7, General Grant renewed the fighting with an aggressive counteract.15 Greatly outnumbered (Confederate forces now around 25,000) and disorganized the Confederate forces now under General Beauregard fought hard but eventually had to retreat to back Corinth.16 The second phase of the Battle of Shiloh was won by General Grant and his Union forces due to two main reasons. The first, Union troop numbers greatly outnumbered their enemy, over 45,000 to 25,000 respectively. And secondly, the reinforcements received by General Grant had not fought the day before and were fresh and excited to fight, unlike the exhausted remaining Confederate troops.17 This was the bloodiest battle fought on American soil up to that point, with 23,746 casualties (Union: 13,047; Confederate: 10,699).18 The Union lost more men but claimed the victory because the Confederate Army retreated back to Corinth, Mississippi.

The weather on the day of battle was hot, in the mid 80’s to low 90’s, and humid. The heat had a negative effect on Union soldiers. The Union Army set out at 2 a.m. to avoid engaging in battle during the hottest part of the day. Many of these Soldiers were untrained in road marches and lacked discipline. They would break ranks to find water, rest or collect blackberries. For these reasons they reached Bull Run three hours late and consequently ended up fighting well into the day. Both sides went into the battle with high morale. They believed that over the course of a few days they would be victorious and the war would be won in this one battle. The terrain of the Battle was mostly rolling country side. Bull Run River was running through the battlefield, which is what the battle was named after. Soldiers had to

The battle in Bull Run a seesaw affair because sometimes the one side has the advantage, and the other side took over during the war. The South and the North each has different advantages. For example, Northerners have great food production and better arms; Southerners have highly motivated soldiers.

Between the battle of Fort Sumter a Confederate victory and the First battle of Bull Run anther Confederate victory, there were nine other smaller battles many not large enough to truly be called a battle. Of those nine battles three were won by the Confederates and two were inconclusive. At the first battle of Bull Run, the Union still believed that this is going to be a very short war, they believed it so much that spectators came and lined the sides of the battlefield to watch the Union smash the Confederate Army. Of the spectators most we're just common folk or people near that community, but

The machinegun was first used at the very start of WWI, The Germans having a design already in mass production by 1914. Seeing as there were already machine guns made the first battle would likely be the battle of Marne. The machine gun changed the face of war, as it was known, adding in the ability to cover areas in blankets of bullets in both defense and offensive stances. There are many types of modern machine guns. These guns are used in mostly every military operation in modern time.

All firearms larger than small arms are known as artillery or cannon. Although there were dozens of different types of cannon used during the Civil War, they all fell into one of two categories: smoothbore or rifled cannon. They were further designated by the weight of their projectile (12-pounder, 24-pounder, 32-pounder, etc.), the caliber or size of their bore diameter (3-inch, 8-inch, 10-inch), method of loading (breech or muzzle), and often their inventor or the factory in which they were made (i.e. Dahlgren, Napoleon, Rodman, Parrott, Whitworth). A further distinction involved the path of their trajectories: guns had a flat

The Second Battle of Bull Run was between the Union and Confederate armies in northern Virginia, from August 29 to August 30, 1862. The Union army of Virginia was commanded by John Pope and the the Confederate army was commanded by General Robert E. Lee. Based on President Abraham Lincoln’s orders, McClellan withdrew the Union army from Richmond. The plan was to combine that army with General Pope’s troops. When the northerners pulled back, General Lee planned to demolish General Pope's army before it combined with General McClellan, knowing that it would be difficult to fight an twice their size. General strategically divided his army in two, while half of the army remain in command of Major General James Longstreet and the other half would be led by General Stonewall Jackson.

He forced a greater number of Union forces to retreat towards Washington, D.C. Despite the confederates victory, their troops were far too disorganized to press their advantage and pursue the retreating Yankees. The First Battle of Bull Run was a costly event; cost 3,000 Union casualties, compared with 1,750 for the Confederates. Its outcome sent northerners who had expected a quick, decisive victory reeling, and gave rejoicing southerners a false hope that they themselves could pull off a swift victory. In fact, both sides would soon have to face the reality of a long, grueling conflict that would take an unimaginable toll on the country and its

The men who fought in the battle of Antietam Creek and the rest of the Civil War

After the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest and goriest day in American history, Confederate General Robert E. Lee a Virginia native and his men, the Army of Northern Virginia attempted to draw the enemy, the Army of Potomac out of his war-worn home state. Initially assuming that the Union soldiers would recede frantically upon first glance of his threatening division, Lee approached Harpers Ferry with his head held high. Upon hearing that the Potomac Army was in hot pursuit, Lee ordered that General Thomas J. Jackson, nicknamed “Stonewall” for his courage and aggressiveness in the Battle of Bull Run, command three divisions of his men to seize the arsenal. Things seemed successful and lucrative for Lee and Jackson until September 7. Word that Lee, Jackson, and their armies had vanished from Maryland spread instantly to the Union’s war department. The following day, Colonel Dixon S. Miles, a Maryland native, arranged to contend the, “nearly indefensible,” (A) Harpers Ferry. The key to winning the battle could be inferred as simply capturing the three major heights overlooking the town. Impounding Bolivar Heights, Maryland Heights, and the alpine Loudoun Heights, reaching approximately 1,200 feet allowed for an excellent angle, range, and view of the armory, famous for harboring precious and propitious weapons necessary for the war. Miles ignored his subordinates who contradicted his decision of splitting 12,000 of his men into four brigades,

However, some are presentation cannons with elaborate designs. One example is a 27 pounder, demi-cannon cast in 1633 by royal gun-founder Felix Fuchs. The gun was a gift from King Christian IV to a relative, Count Anthon Günther of Oldenburg. The gun surface is completely covered by three genealogical trees with 512 individual cartouches, and is over 10 ft in length. Each bearing a name and coat of arms in low relief. The muzzle, dolphins, cascable and underside is covered with intertwined tree branches. The gun took Fuchs 3 years to complete and is one of a