2005-3-2
(MUSIC)
VOICE ONE:
THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.
(MUSIC)
Two summers had gone by since the start of the American Civil
War, and the north had not yet won a major battle in Virginia. The
army of the Potomac -- the strongest of the Union armies -- had
tried to seize Richmond, the Confederate capital.
General George McClellan moved the army up to the very gates of
the city. But then, General Robert E. Lee led his southern forces in
a furious attack that smashed McClellan's army and drove him away
from Richmond.
VOICE TWO:
President Abraham Lincoln and his
new chief General, Henry Halleck, put together a new northern force.
They called it the Army of Virginia. They gave command of it to
General John Pope, a successful fighter in the west.
Pope began to move south toward Richmond. Halleck ordered
McClellan to bring his army up to join Pope. Together, they could
smash through the Confederate defenses around Richmond.
Lee decided to hit Pope before McClellan could join him. He left
a few thousand troops to guard Richmond, then took the rest north.
Lee moved up to the Rappahannock River, across from Pope's army.
VOICE ONE:
Lee sent Stonewall Jackson, with twenty-four-thousand men, on a
quick march around the western end of Pope's lines. Jackson and his
men marched more than eighty kilometers in two days. They got behind
Pope and seized a huge northern supply center at Manassas.
Pope moved to smash them. They burned the captured supplies. Then
they moved a few kilometers away to a long, low hill just northwest
of the Bull Run battleground, where southern forces defeated a
northern army a year before.
Jackson hid his troops in woods along the hill and waited for
General Lee to arrive with the rest of the southern army.
VOICE TWO:
But before Lee could get there, Union troops -- thousands of them
--marched down the road below Jackson. Jackson decided to attack, to
hold them there until Lee arrived with help.
The fighting was furious. Neither side broke. The fighting died
down at the end of the day, and Jackson's men moved back to their
positions on higher ground. They made their lines along a
partly-built railroad on the side of the hill.
VOICE ONE:
From his headquarters on the hill, Jackson watched the northern
forces prepare for battle. Many thousands of the enemy were marching
into position. Pope brought up all his soldiers, and others were on
the way from bases near Washington. Several thousand of McClellan's
troops, commanded by General Porter, were arriving from the south.
It was a mighty force, much larger
than Jackson's army. Jackson was worried. He sent an officer back to
find General Lee. He sent a message: Lee must hurry. Jackson faced a
big army.
VOICE TWO:
Pope's army was large. But it was poorly organized. The men had
been rushed into position. The order to attack was given before all
the troops were ready.
So, the attack began slowly. And jackson was able to fight it
off. But then, more and more northern soldiers joined the fight. The
two sides struggled for hours in the hot summer sun. Jackson's men
almost broke. Men prayed for the long day to end. The sun seemed to
stand still.
VOICE ONE:
Finally, the sun went down, and the battlefield became dark.
Jackson's men had held, but they paid a terrible price. Thousands
were killed or wounded. Northern losses were even greater.
Most of the Union troops had fought bravely. They had hit the
Confederate lines time after time. But one large group of soldiers
did not get into the battle at all that day. This was the group from
McClellan's army of the Potomac, led by Fitz John Porter.
Pope had ordered Porter to strike at the right end of Jackson's
lines. Porter took his troops several kilometers past Jackson's
right...and stopped them. His soldiers remained there all day, out
of the battle. Porter said later he believed the Confederate forces
were too strong for his men.
VOICE TWO:
Other groups of McClellan's men were arriving in Alexandria,
thirty kilometers to the east. Pope asked that they be sent to help
him. McClellan was ordered to send them immediately. But he refused
to do so. He said they were not in condition to fight, and he would
not send them.
General Pope still thought he was facing only Jackson's army. He
refused to believe reports that Lee had arrived on the battlefield
with thirty-thousand more southern soldiers. Pope thought Lee was
still far to the west of Manassas.
VOICE ONE:
Pope knew that Jackson's army had taken a terrible beating in the
two days of bloody fighting. nd he was sure that Jackson would try
to withdraw the next day, to retreat to the west.
Pope divided his forces that night. He left thousands in place in
front of Jackson's lines. The others were moved back. They were
ordered to get ready for a march west to block Jackson's retreat.
Pope made a terrible mistake. Jackson was not planning to
retreat. He was waiting with Lee to smash the northern army. And
that is what happened the next day.
VOICE TWO:
Northern troops attacked Jackson's lines. The fighting was
bitter. Pope's forces almost smashed through. But then Lee ordered
his men to move forward to help Jackson. Confederate artillery broke
up the northern attack. When the northern troops began to retreat,
Lee and Jackson attacked with all their might.
Many of Pope's men were not prepared for battle. They were
standing together in groups, ready for marching. They could not stop
the southern attack. The Confederates pushed Pope's army back across
the Old Bull Run battlefield.
VOICE ONE:
Near the end of the day, northern forces succeeded in organizing
a stronger defensive line. The southern attack slowed down, then
stopped. Lee sent Jackson around the north end of Pope's line to try
to stop the northern retreat. Lee did not want the defeated Union
army to escape. He wanted to destroy it.
But heavy rain held up Jackson's troops. They were discovered and
attacked by a strong northern force. Jackson could move no farther.
He could not stop Pope's retreat to Centreville and Washington. The
northern army escaped.
VOICE TWO:
But it left behind thousands and thousands of dead and wounded.
Confederate doctors treated their own men, then tried to help the
wounded soldiers of the other side. General Lee permitted northern
medical wagons to return to the battlefield. And they began to carry
the wounded back to Centreville.
Groups of McClellan's army, arriving from Alexandria, met Pope's
men in Centreville. They laughed and shouted at the tired, beaten
soldiers. Many said they were glad that Pope had lost.
One of McClellan's Generals, Samuel Sturgis, greeted Pope at
Centreville: "I always told you, Pope, that if they gave you enough
rope, you would hang yourself."
VOICE ONE:
What happened at Bull Run created bitter anger among the people
of the north -- anger against their military leaders. People felt
that a year had been wasted...that thousands had died for no real
purpose. The year before, southern troops sent a northern army
fleeing from Bull Run. Now, it was happening again. The Army of the
Potomac was back where it started.
As the facts of the battle became known, cries of anger became
even louder. The people demanded answers. Why did McClellan and his
men move so slowly. Why did they refuse to go to Pope's aid. Why did
Pope let Jackson get behind him. Why were fourteen-thousand soldiers
lost.
VOICE TWO:
Most members of Lincoln's cabinet believed McClellan was
responsible.
Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase said McClellan should be shot.
War Secretary Edwin Stanton said he should be dismissed immediately.
He and three other cabinet members signed a note demanding that
Lincoln remove McClellan as Commander of the Army of the Potomac.
Lincoln agreed that what McClellan had done was shocking. He said
it was clear that McClellan wanted Pope to fail. But Lincoln said he
would not remove McClellan. He said he knew that McClellan was not
an aggressive general. But he said McClellan was a good organizer
who could build the defeated army into a strong force.
VOICE ONE:
General Robert E. Lee, however, would not wait while McClellan
rebuilt the army. He decided to carry the war to the north.
(MUSIC)
VOICE TWO:
You have been listening to the Special English program, THE
MAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Jack Moyles and Maurice
Joyce. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF A
NATION can be heard Thursdays.