Battle at Bull Run: A History of the First Major Campaign of the Civil War [Paperback]

William C. Davis (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

From the very first pages of this book, it's clear that historian William C. Davis is ready to deliver a gripping account of the first battle of the Civil War. He describes a female spy traveling with stolen information from Washington, D.C., to Confederate headquarters in Fairfax Court House, Virginia: "The whole scene so reeked of penny romance that it bordered on the ludicrous." Maybe so, but it's also real history, and Davis understands what many academic historians do not: a good history book needs to tell good stories. Davis has written many outstanding books on the Civil War era, and Battle at Bull Run is one of his earliest. It's also one of his best, and is perhaps the finest book available on how the Union's haughty overconfidence crumbled against Southern determination in a single afternoon. Confederate General Thomas Jackson earned his immortal nickname, "Stonewall," on that day, and the soldiers who fought under him showed the North that its cry "On to Richmond!" was a hollow one. Much of the book focuses on events leading up to the actual battle--how the two armies were hastily assembled, how each side found its leaders, and so on. This is a familiar tale, but probably never has been told as well as it is on these pages. --John J. Miller --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 298 pages
• Publisher: Louisiana State University Press; Louisiana Paperback Ed edition (May 1981)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807108677
• ISBN-13: 978-0807108673
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #668,822 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very enjoyable account of this battle, May 23, 1998

By 

Aussie Reader ""Rick"" (Canberra, Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Battle at Bull Run (Davis) (Hardcover)

This new and revised edition of the original 1977 book offers the reader a splendid narrative of the first major battle of the American Civil War. On the 21st of July 1861, 60,000 American soldiers from the North and South met along the banks of Bull Run. In the fighting that followed the Union forces lost 2,900 out of the 20,000 men engaged while the Confederates lost 2,000 out of about 17,000 engaged.

The first half of the book describes the Union and Confederate forces as they muster their men into the first armies of the Civil War. It continues with an outline of the events' leading up to the battle and gives you a feeling for, and an understanding of, the main characters involved. Future heroes and leaders of the Civil War come to the fore, such men as `Stonewall' Jackson, Jeb Stuart, A.P. Hill, Jubal Early and Joseph E. Johnston for the Confederacy and men like William T. Sherman, Ambrose Burnside and Irvin McDowell for the Union.

The final chapters describe the fighting from Blackburn's Ford to the final rout of the Union Forces on the evening of the 21st. The author's description of the intense fighting is gripping and written in such a fluent style that it holds you to the narrative. Although the casualties for this engagement were not significant when compared to those bloody battles that followed you still feel for the individual soldiers who were caught up in this terrible War.

This book is an enjoyable and easy to read story and is well presented by a number of photographs taken at the time of the battle or shortly after. The author has included 8 small, but easy to read maps that help you follow the outline of events during the battle. This book is recommended to any body who has a love for this period of history or to the general reader who likes a good story.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Book, December 17, 2003

By 

K Scheffler (Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battle at Bull Run: A history of the first major campaign of the Civil War (Hardcover)

The Battle of Bull Run is a lucid account of the early days of the war climaxing with, of course, the first major engagement at Bull Run. Davis does a fine job balancing the larger strategic and tactical issues surrounding the campaign with the simple, horrific and sometimes downright remarkable experiences of the common soldier. I very much recommend this book.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Davis, Like the Other Davis, Bashes Beauregard, September 15, 2005

By 

Dennis Phillips "The Book Friar" (Bulls Gap, Tennessee USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Battle at Bull Run (Davis) (Hardcover)

Mr. Davis has over the years provided Civil War enthusiasts with many fine books dealing with most aspects of the war. He has written books on the politics of the era, biographies of some of the era's leading figures and is the case here, he has written battle histories. This book like the author's other offerings is clearly written and concise, easy to understand and read and most importantly, it is not dull. Many authors offer up books that are just full of good information but reading them is like reading the Biblical book of Leviticus. Heaven only knows just how many well intentioned people have attempted to read the whole Bible but have come to a dead halt upon reaching Leviticus. The same applies to history books which go into such mind numbing detail about every movement of every regiment and company that the reader finds themselves completely lost and frustrated. Davis, with his wonderfully chatty writing style avoids this problem while still giving the reader all of the pertinent details.

Davis begins his story with Fort Sumter where the reader meets General P.G.T. Beauregard, the first major player in this story. Beauregard of course becomes the "hero of Sumter" and goes north to Virginia with a high reputation and an even bigger ego. Davis is not kind to the Creole general in this book and in fact may be just a little too harsh. As the story progresses the reader is also introduced to some of the people who will be major players throughout the war. This view of men like Jackson, Ewell, Early, Sherman, Stuart and Burnside will certainly help the reader understand events shaped by these men later in the war and each of these men are destined to play a major role over the next four years. Davis does an excellent job of hinting at the future of these men and also pointing out little habits or quirks that are going to become important as these men rise in rank and stature.

As with any well-written book, Davis builds the suspense as her works his way toward the battle. Actually, more of this book deals with the preparations for the battle than with the battle itself. Beauregard, who had an excellent eye for building defenses chose his ground and fortified it well. If the Yankees had just done what he expected them to do the battle would have been over in a very short time. The much-maligned Irvin McDowell had put together an excellent battle plan and Davis offers a pretty rousing defense of McDowell in this book. Davis clearly shows that had McDowell had a little better support and a little better luck, things might have turned out much differently. Besides being completely new to this type of command, McDowell had to deal with a President who was playing politics with his army and a General in Chief who not only disliked McDowell but was also playing political games. Then there was General Daniel Tyler who almost single-handedly destroyed McDowell's plan in a bid for individual glory and also General Patterson who's sloth and caution allowed Joe Johnston to join Beauregard before Patterson even knew he was gone.

Davis does a marvelous job of setting up this battle and then does an even better job of describing the action once it all begins. He has set the whole thing up so well in fact that the narrative of the battle needed very little explanation for everything made perfect sense because of the set up. This situation allowed for the story of the battle to flow about as smoothly in this book as in any book I have ever read.

The only real fault I found in this book was the maps. The maps were good but they were a little small which required me to put on my specks and there were too few of them. There are also several typos that should have all been weeded out in this revised edition and the publishers need to correct this problem in any future editions. Still, this is an eminently readable and highly enjoyable account of the first major battle of the Civil War. Well researched, well written, and highly informative, what more could anyone ask?