Mickey Shoal in Boole Creek.

Union Infantry Captain Mizzy led a thousand soldiers to bravely rush to the south bank of Bull Creek. He was Brigadier General Taylor's lieutenant and right-hand man, and led an infantry regiment to the front.

In the morning, General Taylor personally rode his horse to Bull Creek to check on the enemy, and found no sign of an enemy ambush. Looking at the short Mickey Shoal, which only had to rush past it, he could reach the opposite side of Boer Creek and rush directly to Richmond, and this huge attraction made him forget that General McDowell told him to only feint and confuse the enemy army and not get involved in the battle, and he ordered to cross the creek directly.

As a result, Michi, who was a close confidant of General Taylor, took the lead in rushing south.

When a thousand soldiers crossed the stream, no one fired a shot, and no rebels from the south came out to intercept them. Mizzy was overjoyed, and in order to make room for the other allies behind him, he ordered to move on.

The Taylor Brigade infantry, which is basically militia and volunteers recruited from Massachusetts, wore gray uniforms and continued to advance, and when they crossed the stream, a group of soldiers in gray uniforms appeared in front of them. Mizzy was confused for a moment, stopped the team, and asked directly in a loud voice, "Which part are you from?" ”

The other party was also confused, and asked rhetorically: "Which part are you from?" ”

Captain Mitch immediately replied honestly and loudly: "We are the Taylor Brigade from the Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment and the Militia Regiment!" You are ......."

Unfortunately, before he finished his words, several rebel bullets flew at once, and Captain Mizzy blossomed and was killed on the spot.

The man on the other side, although also wearing gray uniforms, was not a Massachusetts militia, but a soldier of the Bonham Brigade of the Confederate States.

As a result, an encounter caused by an unexpected misunderstanding officially opened fire, and both sides of the war were unexpectedly unprepared, and both sides were in a mess and panicked fire.

However, because Captain Mizzy was killed first, this infantry regiment of the Northern Union Taylor Brigade suffered more heavy losses. The two sides immediately began to fire rifle fire, which lasted for nearly two hours, with mutual losses.

Because of the tragic death of his cronies, General Taylor, who was behind, learned of this, and planned to put more infantry regiments into battle, despite McDowell's order not to allow him to engage the enemy.

He led an entire infantry brigade across the shallows. However, at this time, the defenders of the Confederate States, in addition to the Bonham Brigade that had originally guarded Mitch Shoal, also rushed over and stuck the Taylor Brigade that had just washed ashore on the bank of the stream, and a fierce battle broke out between the two sides.

General Taylor immediately realized that the rebels were far superior to his troops, and he thought of retreating. But by this time, Taylor's brigade had already entered too deeply, his Massachusetts militia was untrained, and the soldiers behind were still desperately squeezing forward, causing his orders to completely fail, and the soldiers who wanted to retreat at the front were blocked by the people who were still rushing forward behind and could not leave. And even the other two regiments that rushed to the end, the two thousand Massachusetts militiamen who stood outside the line of fire, may have been mostly farmers in the past, and their position happened to be on the edge of the river beach, and when they saw a lot of wild blackberries in the grass of the river beach, they went to collect blackberries in a swarm, regardless of whether they were on the battlefield, and completely forgot that they were fighting.

The war continued, and although the two sides only exchanged muskets, the fire between the two sides was uneven, and the Taylor Brigade soon suffered heavy losses, with more than 500 dead and wounded, and 150 missing, most likely in hiding or killed in the bushes. And the Bonham and Longsley brigades of the Confederate States also suffered losses of more than 260 people, and most of them were only wounded.

Fortunately, after three hours of firing, McDowell rode his horse and led the men to hear the news, and by virtue of his prestige, he forcibly ordered the Taylor Brigade to retreat back to the north bank of Bull Creek.

Obviously, McDowell failed miserably this time. However, it was not without gains, at least, through the loss of nearly a regiment of troops by the Taylor Brigade, it was proved that at the Mitch Shoal in Bul Creek, the Southern rebels were stationed with two brigades of defensive strength. McDowell was prepared to abandon this point of attack and attack in the shallows, where the enemy was weakly defended, and the rebels could not be heavily fortified everywhere.

However, what McDowell didn't expect was that the forces of the Confederate States were really not as small as he thought, because even Boredard himself didn't expect it.

Not long after the Northern Confederate Taylor Brigade had retreated, Beauregard received the battle at Mitch Ford, but he was even happier with the news that his assistant, Colonel Guismo, had brought back that Brigadier General Jackson, under General Johnston, had arrived at a small railway station in a valley twenty kilometers east of Manassas, and that it would take him about a few hours to reach the Manassas junction. Moreover, General Johnston personally led the main force, carrying only simple rations and clothing, and had already ridden away from the unaware enemy forces of the Northern Union on the Eastern Front, and also followed the Jackson Infantry Brigade to march this way.

Beauregarde breathed a sigh of relief, and could not help but look forward to it: his troops would hold up in a few hours. At that time, the Jackson Infantry Brigade will be able to arrive, and its own forces will be able to confront the invading Confederate Army head-on, and when General Johnston's main force arrives, it can even take the initiative to attack.

That night, the Northern Union Army really did not attack, after all, there are too many uncertainties in the night battle, and for the militia who have not undergone much training, it is likely that they will not even be able to distinguish the direction clearly due to lack of sight, and they will accidentally injure their own people.

That night, the Jackson Infantry Brigade arrived in Manassas. Early the next morning, the Georgia Infantry Brigade under the command of Colonel Fleck arrived second, and just before noon, the South Carolina Infantry Brigade under the command of Brigadier General Ben Rabin also arrived in Manassas by train. At the same time, General Johnston, who had only 2,000 troops on the Eastern Front to fend off the enemy forces that were only feints, ordered Colonel James Stewart to command the cavalry and artillery not to advance by train to the area around Bull Creek.

It was a day of peace and well-being, but everyone knew that war could break out at any time.

As it happened, both sides were planning to attack early the next morning, and they were both preparing to launch several shoals at the same time from the shallows of Bul Creek! So, the next day, as soon as it was dawn, the war officially began!

However, the gunfire began to sound from the northeast of Manassas, and 12,000 Union troops charged directly to the east of Manassas town in the form of two infantry brigades and an artillery regiment. And to the north of Bull Creek, the three shoals were a few minutes behind and began to charge violently south!

Although the Union army was not completely prepared, McDowell knew that he could not delay any longer, and that the southern rebels would probably react to the Johnston section drawn by the feint of General Patterson on the easternmost front, which would be detrimental to his superiority. And, most crucially, his teacher, Treasury Secretary Samon Chase, sent someone to tell him that he had to go to war today, otherwise President Lincoln and Secretary of War Cameron would simply issue an order to remove him from office on the spot and change the command of the war.

In any case, the war must be started. McDowell was also told that Secretary of War David Cameron would lead a group of congressmen and journalists from Washington to the war to watch the valiant Union Army defeat the Southern rebels and storm Richmond in one fell swoop. As a result, McDowell, who was forced to be helpless, could only go to war directly. But he is still confident that he can defeat the rebels in one fell swoop, after all, the strength of the army, the key is his superb command, concentrate the superior forces to capture Manassas, and completely lock the victory.

I have to say that the Federation soldiers with high morale are really brave. The Taylor Brigade, defeated the day before yesterday, did not attack from Mitch Shoal again, but let more than 100 men shoot here indiscriminately to attract the attention of the enemy, while the main force quietly rushed to Blackburn Shoal to the east and seize a stone bridge there. Part of the Huntsman Infantry Brigade crossed south from McLean Shoal to attract troops. Two infantry brigades, the Myers Brigade and Hunter, and an infantry brigade of more than 12,000 men led by McDowell himself, followed Taylor's Brigade and attacked from Stone Bridge and Blackburn Shoal.

Guarding the stone bridge was Colonel Nathan Evans of the Confederate States. He went to West Point, fought in the Mexican War, and was considered an old Army officer. However, he was a braggart man, a belligerent by nature, and a fond of alcohol, and always had two guards carrying barrels by his side on weekdays, so Borgaard let him lead only one and a half regiments of troops, guarding Blackburn Shoal, which had been strongly broken through by the Northern Union army.

Faced with a weak defense, the other infantry brigades were a little far from Blackburn Shoal and could not be reinforced in time, but Colonel Evans was not afraid at all, and to be honest, his face was slightly red, and he smelled of wine, so there was no time to fear.

Even though his line was broken through one after another, and the Union troops had already attacked the stone bridge, from the north end of Bull Creek to the south bank, he still thought that it was just a feint attack by the enemy, he just let four companies with a total of 400 men arrange to defend the stone bridge in the woods on the south bank of the stone bridge, and he personally led the rest of the 1,100 men to bravely rush to Blackburn Shoal, with his wine barrel, directly with the Union Taylor Brigade that had rushed to the middle of the stream! With 1,100 men and more than 5,000 troops charged by the Federation, he did not hesitate or be afraid even when he found that his forces were weak and outnumbered. At the same time, here at Stone Bridge, 400 people also opened fierce fire with the soldiers of the Union Taylor Brigade, another part of the nearly 4,000 people who charged over.

Bordegard was shocked when he heard the news, he knew that he had completely lost the ability to control Evans, and hurriedly told Evans, who was small in his army, to evacuate, and at the same time sent the Jackson Infantry Brigade to Blackburn Shoal and Stone Bridge to support him.

The situation is dire. It must be said that Evans's recklessness saved the Confederate States.

Despite being told to evacuate, Evans ignored it. Wine strengthens people's courage, not to mention him who soaks in wine all day long.

Hunter Ben followed behind Taylor's brigade, but he was too brave to lead the charge himself, and soon rushed to the north bank of Boer Creek, and when he came out of the woods on the bank, there was a loud burst of gunfire, but it was the drunken and courageous Evans who led the men to rush over and shoot on the hillside next to the woods. Hunter was shot first and fell to the ground and died. The Federation army led by Hunt was demoralized.

And Evans, who was very excited, ordered the Louisiana artillery company, which had been guarding for a long time, to fire directly at the center of the invading Union infantry, although this artillery company was from Louisian, but it came from more than ten different nationalities, digging sewers in New Orleans, it was a gang of drunkards, ruffians and criminals, and usually pulled out their knives and slashed villains as soon as they were provoked, and at this moment there were cannons in hand, they were all hula excited to the sky, desperately firing artillery, a small artillery company of more than 80 people, 12 guns, Unexpectedly, 24 guns were fired. For a time, the charging Union troops were delayed for several minutes and suffered heavy losses. At the same time, nearly 1,000 other infantry led by Evans also opened heavy fire.

The Taylor Brigade of the Union Army rushed up from the rear, and together with the Hunter Brigade who had lost its commander, they formed a long line, firing and outflanking Evans's flanks in a roundabout way.

But even so, in the face of an enemy army several times his size, in the face of the danger of being surrounded, Evans still refused to retreat, he was a madman. But most of his men, most of the villains from Louisiana, especially New Orleans, were also crazy, so the madmen fired wildly, completely ignoring their own danger.

The Louisiana soldiers led by Evans either stood in the open field under cover of bushes or simply stood in the open field, firing at each other with federal troops several times their size, no one retreating or fleeing, no one crying wolf, only the constant fall of soldiers. No one could say exactly how long they had been under the line of fire, and they themselves didn't know how long they could hold on, the only thought was to follow the madman Evans to the fucking Northerners!

These madmen quickly suffered heavy losses, and in less than two hours, more than 500 people were killed and wounded, more than half of the losses were lost, even Evans himself was shot and wounded, but the attacking Union troops, the Taylor Brigade and the Hunter Brigade lost nearly 1,000 men. Mainly because Evans led the infantry to resist in the front, blocking the Union troops that pressed up, causing a large number of dense, and the Louisiana artillery company on the hill took the opportunity to bombard fiercely, until the barrel was blown red and burst, and the ferocious artillery bombarded the Union infantry to heavy losses, and more than half of the nearly 1,000 people lost were caused by the soldiers who were hit by the artillery.

The battle continued, and at this moment Evans led less than 400 soldiers around him, but he still did not retreat. And the federal army, which was about to win, also began to kill, although there was no hand-to-hand combat, but both sides behaved fiercely.

The madness of the madman Evans ended up playing a big role.

Because, just when the Union army was attacking and preparing to annihilate the resisting Evans forces, reinforcements from the Bee Infantry Regiment and the Jackson Infantry Brigade finally arrived.