Bull Run

Lily Malloy lives in Minnesota with her five siblings and their religious father, who whips them every night. Her family goes to church in April 1861, where they learn that the Confederates attacked Fort Sumter. The Union fort surrendered after one day, and President Lincoln is preparing for more fighting. Although they are far from South Carolina, Lily’s neighbors and family are distraught. Her older brother, Patrick, wants to join Minnesota’s regiment, but their dad beats him and threatens him to keep him from leaving. In the morning, Patrick is gone.

Shem Suggs never owned a horse, but he feels a strong bond with horses. He is an orphan and considers horses his family. After the attack on Fort Sumter, there is a picture of a horse in the newspaper. Shem cannot read, but Mr. Bee, the boarding house owner, tells him the paper says the Confederates are recruiting for the cavalry. Mr. Bee rants about his hate for Lincoln, but Shem is interested only in finally getting his own horse.

Gideon Adams is a light-skinned Black man in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and the other Black men of Cincinnati are eager to fight for the Union and protect their city. They plan and hold a successful recruiting session, but at the second session, angry white men—some of them armed—are waiting outside the building. They angrily tell Gideon that Black people should not be allowed to fight in the war. Gideon tries to go inside, but a police captain stops him and forbids the meeting from happening. Gideon promises himself he will not obey the captain’s order to stay at home.

Flora Wheelworth’s children and grandchildren come to stay with her when Virginia succeeds from the Union. Her three daughters happily sew uniforms for their husbands. They, along with their neighbors, place candles in their windows at night to show their support for the Confederacy; households that do not are “suspect” (9). One day, they say goodbye to their husbands at the train station, where music is playing, and the crowd is energetic. The Richmond-bound men are given Bibles, flowers, and bits of their wives clothes. Flora’s eldest daughter, Susannah, packed an outfit for her husband’s assumed victory march in Washington and shouts after him not to get his coat dirty.

Thousands of Bostonians crowd the train station to cheer for the Sixth Massachusetts Regiment’s departure, the first regiment to go to Washington. James Dacy is a sketch artist for the New York Illustrated News and is accompanying the regiment. His job is to create realistic depictions of the battlefield, allowing readers to “experience” the war. The regiment travels through New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, where James is surprised to find strong support for the Confederates. A mob grows around the regiment, insulting them and stopping the carriages that would take them to the next train station. The mob throws vegetables, rocks, and paving blocks; then, a gun is fired, and a boy next to James falls. The regiment fires on the mob and gets away, but three soldiers have died, and more have been injured. James tries to draw what happened but is too angry.

Toby Boyce is an 11-year-old in Georgia, eager to join the military and “kill a Yankee before the supply [runs] out” (13). He knows he is too short to pass for 18, but he walks 15 miles to enlist as a musician when he learns there is no minimum age for that role. He tells the recruiter he wants to play the fife, even though he does not know how to play any instrument. The recruiter gives him a fife and asks him to play “Dixie.” Toby plays the fife horribly, but the recruiter likes his courage and tells him to start practicing.

Gideon tries to enlist in the infantry, but when the officer sees Gideon’s curly hair showing out of the sides of his hat, he knows he is Black and will not let him enlist. Gideon does not want to be a ditchdigger or cook for the Army like some other Black men. He wants only to be a soldier and fight against the Confederates. He cuts his hair, buys a hat that covers all of it, and goes to a new recruiting station the next morning. He gives a fake last name, “Able,” pulling a word from a poster in front of him. The recruiter seems suspicious about Gideon’s replies to his standard questions but allows him to sign his name. Gideon has to correct his signature when he first signs his real name. The recruiter predicts that they will need only 90 days “to whip the Rebels three times over'' (16) and orders Gideon to report back tomorrow. Gideon is nervous that the other white soldiers will discover that he is a Black man.

Virgil Peavey and his company reach the Montgomery train station after walking 40 miles. He is frightened by the train because he has never seen one before. The train ride is like a party, filled with soldiers anticipating an easy fight against the Northerners. Virgil wants the South to secede from the “Yankee tyrants” (17) the way America did from England. An elderly man disapproves of the soldiers’ attitudes and points out all the everyday things that are made in the North. The soldiers decide that since he is elderly, they will make him get off at the next station, rather than throwing him out immediately like they want to.

Nathaniel Epp has traveled the country taking pictures of people. He arrives in Washington, DC, in May 1861 to photograph the thousands of newly arrived soldiers. He takes portraits of an eager Michigan regiment, the men posing with intense expressions. One soldier is accidentally shot dead while Nathaniel is photographing him. Nathaniel develops the photo later and sees “a blurry human shape seeming to step out of the standing man’s skin” (20). He starts a successful business charging people 10 cents to view what he claims is the first footage of a soul leaving a body.

After walking from Arkansas to Virginia to join the cavalry, Shem is told the regiment is full. He is allowed to stay with the regiment to groom and care for the horses. He is enthralled with watching the regiment’s drills and betting games. When a soldier in Company A dies of measles, Shem is allowed to take his place and the man’s horse, Greta. Although Greta is bedraggled, Shem is thrilled, finding that “no finer horse ever breathed” (22).

Dietrich Herz is glad that most of the men in his regiment are German like he is. They are all immigrants who are happy to fight for the Union, their adopted homeland. The men receive boxes of supplies and gifts from the women who were left at home in New York. The women tucked kind notes into the handmade shirts and handkerchiefs they sent. Dietrich, however, is disturbed because inside his shirt are a photo of a beautiful young woman and a note that says she may kill herself.

Dr. Rye observes the irony that men prepare so thoroughly for war, learning how to use the different weapons, yet people are surprised when these weapons work and men die in battle. Dr. Rye volunteered to be the doctor for a North Carolina regiment. He tries to save the large number of men who are dying from the diseases raging through the filthy camp. He is secretly relieved that the men who die from sickness will not kill others in the war.

Lily is lonely without her brother Patrick. She spends much of her time in the fields by her house, pretending to have conversations with him. She finally receives a letter from him that tells her his regiment is near DC. His cheaply made uniform is destroyed because of the rain, and his regiment does not have guns yet. Lily’s father leaves the room when she shows the letter to her excited family, but the next morning she sees his thumbprints on it and can tell he read it.

Toby practices the fife all day and night for a week and then walks for days to meet up with the band. On his first day, he plays well with the other musicians and is even the best one at “Dixie.” He is thrilled to be in the army and prays he will see action. For weeks, the regiment remains in Georgia and does not move closer to Washington. The band gives concerts but mostly gambles, drinks, and fights. Toby, young and Christian, is afraid of the others and regrets joining them.

James wishes he had colored pencils to show the splendid colors of the many different uniforms he sees, including those of soldiers from Italian, French, German, Scottish, and Polish immigrant companies. The most vivid uniforms belong to the “astounding Zouaves,” New Yorkers who dress in a Moroccan style: “Baggy red pantaloons flapping like sails, leather leggings, red-braided blue jackets, and atop every head a red fez cap from which hung a long black tassel” (31). Although the Zouaves act rough with each other, they are flawless in their drills. Because of all that he witnesses, James believes that “no army [can] best the Union” (32). However, he sees an officer in the woods practicing commands by yelling them at the trees and feels very uneasy about what is to come.

Judah Jenkins, an 18-year-old, sees the Union soldiers arrive in Alexandria by steamboat. He follows their commander, Colonel Ellsworth, to the Marshall House Hotel, where Ellsworth takes down the Confederate flag. The owner of Marshall House, James Jackson, shoots Ellsworth dead and then is shot and repeatedly bayoneted. Disgusted, Judah enlists as a courier in the Confederate army that night. He is bitter that after that night, Ellsworth becomes famous but Jackson does not.

General McDowell is overwhelmed by his task: to lead the Army of the Potomac and defeat the Confederates. He must invade Virginia and conquer the Confederate capital of Richmond if necessary. Many things make this feel impossible, including the expectation that this be done in less than three months, the inexperience of his troops, the lack of supplies and maps, and his own inexperience leading so many men. President Lincoln approved McDowell’s plan, but McDowell is frightened to carry it out.

Flora is bored after her daughters leave home, so she founds a Soldiers’ Friend League that makes shirts and bandages for soldiers. The women in the League are relieved that General Beauregard, the Confederate “hero of Fort Sumter” (37), is now in Virginia. They hope he takes DC soon so the Union cannot send Black and Native American people “to pillage the South and free the slaves” (38). When weeks pass with no Confederate movement, newspapers report that Lincoln, drunk and heavily guarded, is paranoid about being attacked. The women believe that the military action stalled because Beauregard is too much a gentleman to attack Lincoln in that state.

As a Black man pretending to be white, Gideon feels like “a ghost spying on the living” (39) when he hears the racist comments and witnesses the cruel behavior of the white soldiers in his regiment. The regiment arrives in Washington in May, and Gideon, one of the few who can write, spends his time writing letters for others. It angers him that many of the men write about returning home after their 90-day enlistments. One man has him write a letter that says terrible things about Black people, and Gideon has to stop himself from telling the man that he is the “inferior, ignorant fool” (40). Gideon signs the letter “Your wood-headed jackass” (40) without the soldier’s knowledge.

Colonel Brattle works for General Beauregard, who views himself too highly to take advice after the success of Fort Sumter. Under President Davis’s command, they are camped south of a stream, “Bull Run,” and remain on the defensive. They do not have enough training or men to attack. Brattle thinks Bull Run is a good place to defend against a Union attack, but Beauregard wants to cross it and overtake Washington.

A. B. is elated that Union troops are finally marching south to Richmond. Washington is flowing with music, flags, well-wishers, and happy soldiers. A. B. comes from Maine and has never met a Southerner but is certain that they are “cruel-hearted, war-loving villains” (43) who must be defeated. The regiment’s first day of marching is relaxed and lazy. The men stop to pick and eat blackberries, making it “less a march than a picnic ramble” (44). By evening, an officer is angry that they walked only six miles.