Battle of Bull Run Bridge

Battle of Bull Run Bridge. Arrival of the 1st New Jersey Brigade. , Rumors of Confederates at Manassas filtered north towards Alexandria, causing worry in the Lincoln administration. The Federal Army of the Potomac, commanded by General George McClellan was away, encamped along the James River after a failed attempt at capturing Richmond earlier in the summer. Only a small Union force stood between the Confederate Army and Washington. Lincoln ordered McClellan back to Northern Virginia. Thousands of Federal soldiers soon departed from around Richmond, traveled up the Potomac river, and headed for Manassas. Among these forces were four regiments of the 1st New Jersey Brigade., Late in the morning of August 27th, the 1st New Jersey approached Manassas near Bull Run Bridge, unaware that two Confederate divisions lay nearby. Holding their fire until New Jerseyans neared, the Confederates unleased a hurricane of lead upon them. Positioned overlooking the developing battlefield, cannons firing from Mayfield Fort tore gaps in the Federal line. Within minutes the New Jerseyans began to retreat, allowing Jackson and his men to resume pillaging the warehouses at Manassas Junction. The Battle of Bull Run Bridge was a Union fiasco, with 445 soldiers killed, wounded, or captured., [Captions:] , The Federal encampment at Harrison's Landing, outside of Richmond. President Lincoln recalled the Federal Army from these camps prior to the Battle of Second Manassas., The bridge over the Bull Run where Confederate troops routed a portion of the Union Army in a prelude to Second Manassas.