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On July 21, 1861, General Irvin McDowell approached Manassas, on a creek called Bull Run. McDowell thought his command could crush Beauregard's troops while the Union Army in the Shenandoah Valley kept General Joseph E. Johnston occupied. But Johnston managed to slip away and joined Beauregard and battled against McDowell. Both opposing forces were composed mainly of poorly trained volunteers. The North launched several attacks. During one attack when some of the Southern troops were retreating, General Thomas J. Jackson stood his ground so firmly that he received the nicknake "Stonewall," and his brigade became known as the "Stonewall Brigade." The tired Union forces broke and fled to Washington in wild retreat.
The North realized for the first time that it faced a long fight.
After Bull Run, President Abraham Lincoln made General George B. McClellan commander of the eastern army, soon to be known as the Army of the Potomac.
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