U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Map of the Battlefield of Bull Run (1877)

This map, created by the United States Army Corps of Engineers, depicts the Battle of Bull Run, the first full-scale battle of the Civil War. On July 21, 1861, Confederate and Union forces met in Virginia at the junction of the Manassas Gap Railroad and the Orange and Alexandria Railroads. The Union troops wanted to take over the junction in order to keep the Confederate forces from using the railroads to transport troops or supplies. The battle slowly developed, and ended up involving 32,000 Confederate troops and over 35,000 Union troops. The Union troops that fought were a part of a Union 90-day volunteer army formed after the attack on Fort Sumter on April 13, 1861. General Irvin McDowell led the Union forces and attempted to flank the Confederate troops by crossing the Bull Run River, but were turned back and unsuccessful. The battle ended in a Confederate victory with the Union forces retreating to Washington D.C., coming to the sobering realization that the war was going to last much longer than 90 days. The map shows roads, railroads, hachures, vegetation, drainage, villages, houses, fences, and names of residents. The red X's near Centreville indicate sites of Union bivouacs, or tents, on the night of July 20, 1861. The full lines on the map denote the position of the forces on the next day at the commencement of the engagement at Sudley's Springs. The blue/gray markings are the Union forces and red the Confederate forces.