First Bull Run (Manassas) July 21, 1861
The History 2003–Present
The research for the website began in 1994, when I read an article written by Paul Stevenson for Military Modelling in 1987 entitled ‘Sunday Picnic Uniforms’.
The vast array of uniforms was inspiring; the grey uniforms of the 8th New York State Militia, the red-legged devils of the 14th New York (Brooklyn) State Militia, the 11th New York (Fire Zouaves) State Militia, the blue of the 33rd Virginia Infantry and the old filibuster uniforms of Company B, Tiger Rifles, 1st Special Battalion Liousiana Infantry.
The first aim was to establish the orders of battle for each of the three armies, Army of the Potomac, Army of the Shenandoah and Army of Norteastern Virginia, present on July 21,1861. This was an extremely complicated procedure as there are many varing accounts of brigade assignments with some companies not mentioned in any reference books.
For example, Schaeffer's Virginia Battalion Infantry, assigned to the Fifth Brigade, was a temporary organisation composing one Virginia company and two Louisiana companies and was only listed in a rare book and in the Supplement to the Official Records in the National Archives Library. There are also two independent cavalry companies, the Madison and Prince William Cavalry, which, although mentioned in some reports, have no records of brigade assignments on July 21, 1861.
William C Davis' book, Battle at Run, narrates an excellent account of events preceeding the battle, the conflicit and its aftermath. Other sources providing accurate reference material are a compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies by Guild Press, Ron Field's books on various regimental histories and his Osprey Publishing titles and the Supplement Supplement to the Official Records.
It has taken over fifteen years to collate all the information from the many sources that are available both online and in publication. This website provides the most accurate resource centre for the First Battle of Bull Run, Manassas, listing all the regiments, companies and batteries with their organisation and report reference numbers during the Manassas Campaign of July 16–22, 1861.
If you have information regarding brigade assignments and/or company organisation please contact Jonathan Soffe at author@firstbullrun.com.
The above painting, ‘New York's Finest’, is by Don Troiani, modern America's finest historial artist. For more information visit www.historicalimagebank.com.