Coming Soon in the Emerging Civil War Series: There Will Never Be Another Battle

Nine months from today—on July 21—we’ll again commemorate the anniversary of the 1861 battle of First Bull Run (or First Manassas if you live in the South). It was the first major battle of the war—and was supposed to be the last. “There will never be another battle,” confident authorities declared. Yet, when battle erupted, it offered a glimpse of just how horrible this war might be. By war’s end, First Manassas would prove to be a relatively small engagement, yet in its moment, it was a stunning end of innocence.

ECW historians Rob Orrison and Kevin Pawlak—who both work in Prince William County, Virginia, where the Manassas battlefield is located—have teamed up to bring you an excellent account of the war’s first major battle.

The book also includes a foreword by Hary Smeltzer, author of the digital site Bull Runnings, maps by Edward Alexander, and appendices by William R. Griffith IV, Chris Mackowski, and Anthony Trusso.

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About the Book:

Conflict between the United States and Confederate States was in its infancy when civilians-turned-soldiers converged on Manassas Junction 25 miles west of Washington, DC, in July 1861.

Neither side was mentally nor physically prepared for the bloodletting along Bull Run. After nearly 12 hours on Sunday, July 21, 1861, the perception of one war-winning battle was shattered. The Civil War’s first major battle left 900 men dead and another 2,600 wounded.

When Americans, North and South, awoke on July 22, they had just passed through the bloodiest day in the young nation’s history.

The death and debris of battle stopped one Georgia soldier in his tracks. “Surely, surely, there will never be another battle,” he thought to himself.

Rather than settling decades of disagreement between North and South, the Battle of First Manassas, or Bull Run, spawned four long, bloody years of war—the deadliest in American history.

Explore the first substantial campaign and battle of the Civil War with historians Rob Orrison and Kevin Pawlak. This book serves as a resource and guide to deciphering the myths, misconceptions, stories, and places that the battle on July 21, 1861, produced.