Confederate General Robert E. Lee deals a stinging defeat to
Union General John Pope at the Second Battle of Bull Run,
Virginia—a battle that arose out of the failure of Union General
George McClellan's Peninsular campaign earlier in the summer.
Frustrated with McClellan, who was still camped on the James
Peninsula southeast of Richmond, President Abraham Lincoln and
General-in-Chief Henry Halleck decided to pull a substantial
part of McClellan's Army of the Potomac and send it to General
John Pope's newly formed Army of Virginia. Lee correctly guessed
that McClellan had no plans to attack Richmond, so he sent
General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson north to keep an eye on
Pope's force. When it became clear that the Yankees were
abandoning the peninsula, Lee moved more of his force northward
to defeat Pope before reinforcements arrived. The plan worked
perfectly, and Jackson raided a major Union supply depot at
Manassas, Virginia. Realizing that the Confederates were split,
Pope began to pursue Jackson. But he