First Battle of Bull Run: The U.S Marines

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The Civil War influenced the number and quality of Marine officers available for duty, as well. Although the total number of Marine officers remained essentially the same after the war started, the experience level of the officers declined. Twenty Marine officers resigned from service, electing to join the Confederacy in the spring of 1861. More critically, among the ranks from first lieutenant to major, nearly half of the officers headed South. Thus it was that half of Reynolds’ Marine officers marching to face a hostile enemy had been commissioned within the previous two months.

It took time for the new Marine units to be integrated, however hastily, into the Army, and in the meantime, Lincoln, Scott and the cabinet members fretted. The target date for the offensive, July 8, passed without a whimper. McDowell, sitting in his camp, complained to his staff that he had no opportunity to test my machinery, to move it around and see whether it would work smoothly or not. Unfortunately for McDowell, he did not have the luxury of a test run. Scott, fuming at the delay, told Brig. Gen. Daniel Tyler that there was no excuse for an unfortunate result in the upcoming campaign, since McDowell had superior numbers and equipment in his favor. McDowell, however, did not see it that way. I wanted very much a little time, he said later, all of us wanted it. We did not have a bit of it. The answer was: ‘You are green, it is true; but they are green, also; you are all green alike.’

Finally, on July 15, final orders were given for an advance the next day. Brigadier General Samuel Heintzelman would lead one wing of the army down the Orange & Alexandria Railroad to a point below the Confederate army at Manassas. Brigadier General David Hunter would head toward Centreville, a village directly northeast of Bull Run. And Tyler would head for Vienna, where he would proceed west to block the Little River Turnpike and the Rebel line of retreat. On to Richmond! was the informal, if overly optimistic, watchword of the campaign.

Reynolds formed his men into a battalion and trooped out from the Washington Navy Yard with the rest of the army on July 16. In addition to four companies of 320 privates, the battalion included 12 officers, 17 noncommissioned officers, two drummers and two fifers. None of the privates had been in the service for more than three weeks, and only 16 Marines had had significant experience. Still, the leaders were seasoned Marines. Besides Reynolds’ 35 years of service, his second-in-command, Major Jacob Zeilin, had been in service for 30 years. Of the remainder, only three other officers, nine noncommissioned officers and two musicians could be considered veterans.

The Marines were attached to Colonel Andrew Porter’s brigade of the 2nd Division. The brigade numbered 3,700 men and included a militia regiment from New York, the 8th New York; two volunteer regiments, the 14th and the 27th New York; a battalion of Army regulars; a cavalry detachment; and an artillery battery from the 5th U.S. Artillery under Captain Charles Griffin. Porter recognized only too well the rawness of the Marines, but still complimented them: Through the constant exertions of their officers [they] had been brought to present a fine military appearance. He assigned Reynolds’ battalion to support Griffin’s battery. By accompanying the artillery, Griffin reasoned, the Marines might be shielded from the heaviest fire, and their inexperience might not become a factor.

The Union army’s march toward Manassas took twice as long as expected, with one day of travel lost when field rations were not packed as ordered. It was not until July 21 that the Federals arrived near Centreville, where the Confederates guarded the lower crossings of Bull Run. McDowell’s plan was to make a feint against the Confederate positions on Bull Run with half of his army while marching the remainder of his force upstream. There, at a ford near Sudley Springs, the soldiers would cross Bull Run, presumably turning the flank of the preoccupied Confederates. The Marines and the rest of Porter’s brigade would be a part of the Union flanking force.

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Tags: 19th Century, America's Civil War, American Civil War, Historical Conflicts, Historical Figures

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