(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

THE MAKING OF A NATION -- a program in Special English.

(MUSIC)

Two summers had gone by since the start of the American CivilWar, and the north had not yet won a major battle in Virginia. Thearmy of the Potomac -- the strongest of the Union armies -- hadtried to seize Richmond, the Confederate capital.

General George McClellan moved the army up to the very gates ofthe city. But then, General Robert E. Lee led his southern forces ina furious attack that smashed McClellan's army and drove him awayfrom Richmond.

VOICE TWO:

President Abraham Lincoln and hisnew chief General, Henry Halleck, put together a new northern force.They called it the Army of Virginia. They gave command of it toGeneral John Pope, a successful fighter in the west.

Pope began to move south toward Richmond. Halleck orderedMcClellan to bring his army up to join Pope. Together, they couldsmash through the Confederate defenses around Richmond.

Lee decided to hit Pope before McClellan could join him. He lefta few thousand troops to guard Richmond, then took the rest north.Lee moved up to the Rappahannock River, across from Pope's army.

VOICE ONE:

Lee sent Stonewall Jackson, with twenty-four-thousand men, on aquick march around the western end of Pope's lines. Jackson and hismen marched more than eighty kilometers in two days. They got behindPope and seized a huge northern supply center at Manassas.

Pope moved to smash them. They burned the captured supplies. Thenthey moved a few kilometers away to a long, low hill just northwestof the Bull Run battleground, where southern forces defeated anorthern army a year before.

Jackson hid his troops in woods along the hill and waited forGeneral Lee to arrive with the rest of the southern army.

VOICE TWO:

But before Lee could get there, Union troops -- thousands of them--marched down the road below Jackson. Jackson decided to attack, tohold them there until Lee arrived with help.

The fighting was furious. Neither side broke. The fighting dieddown at the end of the day, and Jackson's men moved back to theirpositions on higher ground. They made their lines along apartly-built railroad on the side of the hill.

VOICE ONE:

From his headquarters on the hill, Jackson watched the northernforces prepare for battle. Many thousands of the enemy were marchinginto position. Pope brought up all his soldiers, and others were onthe way from bases near Washington. Several thousand of McClellan'stroops, commanded by General Porter, were arriving from the south.

It was a mighty force, much largerthan Jackson's army. Jackson was worried. He sent an officer back tofind General Lee. He sent a message: Lee must hurry. Jackson faced abig army.

VOICE TWO:

Pope's army was large. But it was poorly organized. The men hadbeen rushed into position. The order to attack was given before allthe troops were ready.

So, the attack began slowly. And jackson was able to fight itoff. But then, more and more northern soldiers joined the fight. Thetwo sides struggled for hours in the hot summer sun. Jackson's menalmost broke. Men prayed for the long day to end. The sun seemed tostand still.

VOICE ONE:

Finally, the sun went down, and the battlefield became dark.Jackson's men had held, but they paid a terrible price. Thousandswere killed or wounded. Northern losses were even greater.

Most of the Union troops had fought bravely. They had hit theConfederate lines time after time. But one large group of soldiersdid not get into the battle at all that day. This was the group fromMcClellan's army of the Potomac, led by Fitz John Porter.

Pope had ordered Porter to strike at the right end of Jackson'slines. Porter took his troops several kilometers past Jackson'sright...and stopped them. His soldiers remained there all day, outof the battle. Porter said later he believed the Confederate forceswere too strong for his men.

VOICE TWO:

Other groups of McClellan's men were arriving in Alexandria,thirty kilometers to the east. Pope asked that they be sent to helphim. McClellan was ordered to send them immediately. But he refusedto do so. He said they were not in condition to fight, and he wouldnot send them.

General Pope still thought he was facing only Jackson's army. Herefused to believe reports that Lee had arrived on the battlefieldwith thirty-thousand more southern soldiers. Pope thought Lee wasstill far to the west of Manassas.

VOICE ONE:

Pope knew that Jackson's army had taken a terrible beating in thetwo days of bloody fighting. nd he was sure that Jackson would tryto withdraw the next day, to retreat to the west.

Pope divided his forces that night. He left thousands in place infront of Jackson's lines. The others were moved back. They wereordered to get ready for a march west to block Jackson's retreat.

Pope made a terrible mistake. Jackson was not planning toretreat. He was waiting with Lee to smash the northern army. Andthat is what happened the next day.

VOICE TWO:

Northern troops attacked Jackson's lines. The fighting wasbitter. Pope's forces almost smashed through. But then Lee orderedhis men to move forward to help Jackson. Confederate artillery brokeup the northern attack. When the northern troops began to retreat,Lee and Jackson attacked with all their might.

Many of Pope's men were not prepared for battle. They werestanding together in groups, ready for marching. They could not stopthe southern attack. The Confederates pushed Pope's army back acrossthe Old Bull Run battlefield.

VOICE ONE:

Near the end of the day, northern forces succeeded in organizinga stronger defensive line. The southern attack slowed down, thenstopped. Lee sent Jackson around the north end of Pope's line to tryto stop the northern retreat. Lee did not want the defeated Unionarmy to escape. He wanted to destroy it.

But heavy rain held up Jackson's troops. They were discovered andattacked by a strong northern force. Jackson could move no farther.He could not stop Pope's retreat to Centreville and Washington. Thenorthern army escaped.

VOICE TWO:

But it left behind thousands and thousands of dead and wounded.Confederate doctors treated their own men, then tried to help thewounded soldiers of the other side. General Lee permitted northernmedical wagons to return to the battlefield. And they began to carrythe wounded back to Centreville.

Groups of McClellan's army, arriving from Alexandria, met Pope'smen in Centreville. They laughed and shouted at the tired, beatensoldiers. Many said they were glad that Pope had lost.

One of McClellan's Generals, Samuel Sturgis, greeted Pope atCentreville: "I always told you, Pope, that if they gave you enoughrope, you would hang yourself."

VOICE ONE:

What happened at Bull Run created bitter anger among the peopleof the north -- anger against their military leaders. People feltthat a year had been wasted...that thousands had died for no realpurpose. The year before, southern troops sent a northern armyfleeing from Bull Run. Now, it was happening again. The Army of thePotomac was back where it started.

As the facts of the battle became known, cries of anger becameeven louder. The people demanded answers. Why did McClellan and hismen move so slowly. Why did they refuse to go to Pope's aid. Why didPope let Jackson get behind him. Why were fourteen-thousand soldierslost.

VOICE TWO:

Most members of Lincoln's cabinet believed McClellan wasresponsible.

Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase said McClellan should be shot.War Secretary Edwin Stanton said he should be dismissed immediately.He and three other cabinet members signed a note demanding thatLincoln remove McClellan as Commander of the Army of the Potomac.

Lincoln agreed that what McClellan had done was shocking. He saidit was clear that McClellan wanted Pope to fail. But Lincoln said hewould not remove McClellan. He said he knew that McClellan was notan aggressive general. But he said McClellan was a good organizerwho could build the defeated army into a strong force.

VOICE ONE:

General Robert E. Lee, however, would not wait while McClellanrebuilt the army. He decided to carry the war to the north.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

You have been listening to the Special English program, THEMAKING OF A NATION. Your narrators were Jack Moyles and MauriceJoyce. Our program was written by Frank Beardsley. THE MAKING OF ANATION can be heard Thursdays.