The Second Manassas Campaign

Caroline E. Janney, Kathryn J. Shively

• Publisher: The University of North Carolina Press
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN: 9781469685366
• eBook ISBN: 9781469683782
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: American Civil War History
• Index: History

Waged from June 26 to September 1, 1862, the Second Manassas campaign pitted the US Armies of Virginia and the Potomac against the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and its new commander, Robert E. Lee. The campaign unfolded against a backdrop of momentous US political decisions regarding confiscation, emancipation, and Confederate civilians. These decisions dismayed and energized Confederates, sparking the debut of Lee’s offensive strategy. Weeks of strategic movements were punctuated by savage fighting that culminated in a climactic battle on August 28–30. Second Manassas destroyed the careers of US army commander John Pope and corps commander Fitz John Porter. Despite the dramatic impact of the campaign, it is often forgotten in the larger history of the Civil War, and sorely understudied. The essays in this volume provide valuable attention to strategy, tactics, and logistics; the performances of key commanders on each side; the campaign’s political dimensions; the connections between home front and battlefield; and the memory of the campaign’s aftermath.

Contributors include Keith S. Bohannon, Gary W. Gallagher, John J. Hennessy, Peter C. Luebke, James Marten, William Marvel, and Cecily Zander.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Halftitle Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Halftitle Page
• MAP
• Introduction
• Management Most Wretched: Logistical Self-Destruction in the Army of Virginia
• The Army of Virginia Confronts the “Moral Spectacle” of Freedom
• The Tide of War Has Been Rolled Back: Second Manassas in Confederate Perspective
• General Pope Goes to Washington: Radical Republicans and the Failed Hope of the Second Bull Run Campaign
• hake Yankeedom to Its Centre: Robert E. Lee and the Making of Confederate Strategy in the Second Manassas Campaign
• The Battle for Which We Had So Long Been Yearning: The 6th Wisconsin at Brawner Farm
• As Ambitious as He Was Brave and Daring: General John Bell Hood at the Battle of Second Manassas
• A Carnival of Hypocrisy: The Ordeal of Fitz John Porter
• A National Disgrace: The Battle to Protect the Bull Run Monuments
• Bibliographic Essay
• Contributors
• Index