THE SECOND BATTLE OF MANASSAS FOUGHT AT BULL RUN
August 29th and 30th, 1862
The second battle of Manassas was not a planned battle, but movement of troops into the area by General Lee set the stage.
He did not like the idea of so many federal troops so close to Richmond as the Union army were. He sent General Jackson with his 2nd Corp and General Longstreet with his 1st Corp to Manassas by different routes, knowing this would draw the new Union commander, General John Pope back from the area to keep between these Confederate forces and Washington, D. C. The idea worked and Manassas was to become again the battlegrounds of two great armies in just over a year.
Second Manassas was fought by General R. E. Lee opposing Major General John Pope and was somewhat different from 1st Manassas. Pope's troops were moving to Centreville and General Jackson's 2nd Corp at Manassas Junction. Jackson had his troops make a flank movement to get on the north side of Warrenton Turnpike and to be in a position to join forces with General Longstreet's 1st Corp coming down from Warrenton and Gainesville, Virginia.
General Pope moved his forces from Centreville to Manassas hoping to find Jackson there, but found the town deserted as General Jackson had already pulled out.
Jackson knew what was underfoot so he marched his men on Sudley Road to the Stone House at Warrenton Junction then moved a couple of hundred yards farther and took up positions in an unfinished railroad cut south of Sudley Mountain.
General Pope then marched his troops back to Centreville and on down the Warrenton Turnpike to the Stone Bridge; they crossed Bull Run on August 29 at Lewis's Ford, Ball's Ford and the Stone Bridge and made contact with Jackson's 2nd Corp. A hard fought battle lasted all day as General Jackson's men were well protected, although General Longstreet's 1st Corp had not arrived.
General Longstreet's forces arrived at dark and took positions to strengthen Jackson's right flank and other weak points. Union forces attacked next morning August 30 not knowing Jackson had been reeinforced and found a stronger force to face. The battle was fought hard most of the day, but the fresh troops did make a difference and General Pope had to do what General McDowell did 13 months before, retreat back across Bull Run to Centreville and on back to D. C. a defeated army.
This battle was a little different from 1st Manassas, these were veterans fighting, not green troops, so the casualty list was higher. Federal forces lost 14,462 killed, wounded, or missing, and the Confederates lost 9,474.
The 42nd Infantry division was there in General Jackson's 2nd Corp under the command of Colonel Bradley T. Johnson. Their objective was to turn the Federal right flank and threaten communications with Washington.