Donnybrook: The Battle of Bull Run, 1861 - Paperback

by David Detzer (Author)

In April 1861, Confederate artillery blasted Fort Sumter into surrender. Within weeks, the Confederacy had established its capital at Richmond. On May 24, Lincoln ordered troops across the Potomac into Virginia, only a few miles from the Confederate military base near the hamlet of Manassas. A great battle was inevitable; whether this would end the war, as many expected, was the only question. On July 21, near a stream called Bull Run, the two forces fought from early morning until after dark in the first great battle of the Civil War. America would never be quite the same.

Front Jacket

In the first months of the Civil War, few Americans understood how ugly the war would become, few had any sense of what an actual battlefield would be like. They would get their first important lesson in July 1861, when a great Union army and a major Confederate force clashed near a Virginia stream called Bull Run.
In April 1861, Confederate artillery blasted Fort Sumter into surrender. Within weeks, the Confederacy established its capital at Richmond. On May 24, Lincoln ordered troops across the Potomac into Virginia, only a few miles from the Confederate military base near the hamlet of Manassas. A great battle was inevitable; whether this would end the war, as many expected, was the only question. On July 21, near a stream called Bull Run, the two forces fought from early morning until after dark in the first great battle of the Civil War. America would never be quite the same.
The 1st Battle of Bull Run introduced citizens of this country to the draft, the effects of heavy artillery, and the emotional violence of fighting your neighbor for an uncertain cause. It tested the character of men who would later dominate recollection: Stonewall Jackson, James Longstreet, Irvin McDowell, William T. Sherman. In the wake of the battle, the Union was forced to reconsider its strength and searched within its ranks for a scapegoat. David Detzer is the first historian to analyze the resulting Joint Committee on the Conduct of the Present War and thus the first to exonerate General Robert Patterson.
Donnybrook is the first major history of Bull Run to detail the battle from its origins through its aftermath; not since William C. Davis' study of the battle, written decades ago, has a historian approached this linchpin battle with such force, insight, and fresh energy. Using copious and remarkably detailed primary source material-including the recollections of hundreds of average soldiers-David Detzer has created an epic account of a defining moment in American history.

Back Jacket

David Detzer is making a distinguished reputation in Civil War history writing about great openings. In Donnybrook, he gives us a marvelous account of the first great battle of the war, at Bull Run. Like his first, this second book is comprehensive, thorough, deeply researched, rich in detail, and highly readable. It is a fine account of a major passage in that great war.
--John C. Waugh, author of Reelecting Lincoln
On July 21, 1861, near a stream called Bull Run, the Union and Confederate forces fought from early morning until after dark in the first great battle of the Civil War. America would never be quite the same. The 1st Battle of Bull Run introduced citizens of this country to the draft, the effects of heavy artillery, and the emotional violence of fighting your neighbor for an uncertain cause. It tested the character of men who would later dominate popular memory: Stonewall Jackson, James Longstreet, Irvin McDowell, William T. Sherman. Donnybrook is the first major history of Bull Run to detail the battle from its origins through its aftermath. David Detzer has created an epic account of a defining moment in American history.
"Detzer establishes himself as the premier historian of the war's first months. An elegantly written book that engages from first word to last . . . first-rate history presented with great literary merit." --American Civil War Magazine
"This is history as it should be written."--The Seattle Times
David Detzer is Professor Emeritus of history with Connecticut State University. He is the author of several books, including Allegiance: Fort Sumter, Charleston, and the Beginning of the Civil War. He lives in Connecticut with his wife and several dogs.