Manassas is located in northeastern Virginia, a rail junction more than 40 kilometers southwest of Washington, D.C.

On this day, Brigadier General Pierre Beauret, commander of the West Virginia Theater of Operations, was returning to the camp after inspecting the soldiers' camp and preparing to return to the camp to rest, when his right-hand man, Colonel Thomas Jordan, trotted all the way with a nervous look on his face and whispered: "General Beauregarde, Mrs. Ross has a secret message here!" ”

Boregaard was shocked in his heart, and hurriedly said: "What military situation?" ”

Upon learning that the Northern Confederacy was preparing to attack Virginia, he was ordered to lead the Confederate Potmark's Legion to Manassas day and night. However, he was nervous, always nervously waiting for accurate news from Washington, and now, at last, it has come.

Mrs. Ross in the mouth of Colonel Mars Jordan is actually a widow, beautiful, and although she is no longer young, she is quite popular. She was a very important figure in Washington, D.C., where she knew almost all the top government officials, had friends in all government departments, and was a well-known courtesan. However, this Mrs. Ross is not only a friend of Mars Jordan, but also a spy at his behest. Mrs. Ross was close to Senator Massachusetts, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Henry Wilson, and several brigadier generals in the Union Army, and the previous Union militia had called up 75,000 men, as well as the Northern Union Army, and McDowell led five divisions of the Northern Virginia Regiment from Washington to attack Manassas, which she secretly heard and provided to Mars Jordan, and then relayed to President Davis through Borlegard.

"General, Mrs. Ross sent a secret letter with the words 'McDowell has received orders to march to Manassas to-morrow.' Also, Mrs. Ross' men brought a military map used by the Senate Armed Services Committee! Colonel Mars Jordan took out a map from his bosom and handed it to Boregard: "On this map, the route of the Northern Federation's army to attack the Manassas confluence is directly marked, which is too helpful for our next battle!" ”

Boregard laughed: "Great! Colonel, you send the messenger back to tell Mrs. Ross that she has made a great contribution to the Confederate Territories, that the 13 million people of the Confederate States will not forget, and that President Davis and I, Boredgard, are very grateful to her! ”

Boredad lit the oil lamp in the barracks, and immediately opened the map and examined it carefully.

The information sent by Mrs. Ross is very useful, especially this map, which is simply the battle plan of the Northern Union army, and the time and place are all marked, so that the movement of the Federation army is clear to your side, and it is difficult not to defeat the other party!

Beauregard burst into ecstasy. He became the hero of the Confederate Confederate because of the capture of Fort Sumter in South Carolina, but that was the victory of the more and the less, and it did not allow him to be recognized by more people and the army, but if he defeated the other party in this battle of Manassas with a smaller number of troops than the federal army, he would definitely become the god of war of the Confederate States praised by everyone. Both he and the Confederates needed a big and hearty victory.

From the map sent by Mrs. Ross, it can be seen that the Northern Union Army, the so-called Northern Virginia Army led by McDowell, contains a total of 5 divisions and a total of 37,000 people.

McDowell's plan was actually quite perfect, and it was very much in line with the reality of the war.

McDowell divided the troops into three parts, attacking in three directions.

The easternmost of these was a feint force of just over 5,000 troops, preparing to pin down the Confederate Eastern Virginia Theater Commander between Richmond and Washington, Maj. Gen. Joseph Johnston, who was unable to support Manassas in time with his 12,000 troops.

The other two routes were to attack the Confederate forces stationed in Manassas from one east and one west. Knowing the location of the attack of the two main enemy forces in the east and the west, and the time was still more than a day, Boregard could calmly arrange and specialize in sniping the enemy army.

Although the exact number of these two forces attacking the enemy is unknown, the total number is known. And Borlegard still knows a little about this McDowell, this is a nerdy commander, judging from the offensive route he set, it is obvious that a force directly attacking from the east is not the largest main force, but the largest main force is the force that made a detour from the north and finally arrived in the west of Manassas after a roundabout attack.

Because judging from Mrs. Ross's intelligence, it is already known that the other side has sent 5 divisions with a total of 37,000 people, except for the easternmost feint with 5,000 people, and the remaining 4 divisions have a total of 32,000 people. If you are not mistaken, it is likely that the main force of the detour will be 2 and a half divisions with a total of 20,000 men, and the direct attack from the east will be 12,000 men from 1 and a half divisions. Because McDowell is unlikely to distribute the forces evenly.

Based on this speculation, Beauregarde immediately sent a telegram to the Richmond Union government, informing President Davis and the War Department that McDowell's troops had departed, and that the main force was to attack Manassas directly, and he asked Major General Joseph Johnston to reinforce his troops stationed on the banks of the Portmark River and in the Shenandoah Valley to the east.

However, Beauregard thought that Major General Joseph Johnston had 20,000 soldiers there, but in reality, only 12,000 men had arrived, and 10,000 were still on their way to the front in Richmond due to ill-preparedness.

However, the Union forces in the north arrived at Manassas even later than the intelligence had reported for the attack the next night. McDowell probably didn't expect that none of his men knew how to organize an army of tens of thousands of men, forming a long and winding march through the ridges and country roads. Moreover, the sporadic resistance along the way has already terrified the hearts of the Union soldiers, who have just turned from peasants and craftsmen. They had no training at all, they always thought that fighting was a battle of blowing trumpets, beating war drums, waving flags, and they rushed along the battlefield covered with red carpets, and the enemy surrendered one after another, and they were victorious to applause and flowers. Unexpectedly, after a few days of marching, they were miserable, their feet were blistered, and the rifles on their bodies were so heavy that they couldn't breathe.

Fortunately, Boregard had already ordered the Confederate soldiers on the front line to retreat, so as not to be broken by each of them because of the small number of troops. However, on this day in early July, a straight-line attacking army of the Northern Confederacy finally reached a few kilometers northeast of Manassas, and the two sides faced off against the fortified defensive positions of Manassas constructed by Borigard.

To McDowell's miscalculation, he personally led another main army that made a detour north to attack the northwest of Manassas, the 20,000-strong force could not reach their destination in time because of the fatigue of the march in the heat, dust and humidity of the day, McDowell could not march in time even on a tall horse, he could only order his Brigadier General Taylor to attack a small fort the next morning, and then reconnoiter the Combine Mill Shoal, where he planned to wade through the stream of Bull Creek, if successful, He was able to make a detour back to the enemy's rear as quickly as possible, and then attack at the same time as the 12,000-strong attacking force facing Manassas East to win the entire campaign.

But the next morning, despite the capture of the little fort without firing a single shot, McDowell was not happy. He found that his perfect marching plan had completely miscalculated in the face of the actual terrain. The road to the United Mill was unsuitable for a large march, and he had to abandon his plan to make a detour with 20,000 troops to the west of Manassas, and forcibly reroute the march to force his way through Bull Creek directly north of Manassas. However, the current of the Boer Creek here was a bit fast and deep, and his troops could not pass through. Finally, after a few hours of improvised reconnaissance, he discovered that there were three fords that had recently been able to pass through the Boer stream. Blackburn City Shoal in the east, Mickey Shoal in the middle and McLean Shoal in the west.

However, McDowell feared that there were already rebels stationed across the stream, and his greatest concern was that he would be ambushed by the rebels as he crossed the stream. So he divided his 20,000 men into five brigades: Huntsman and Hunt each led a brigade to continue westward, crossing Bull Creek from McLean Shoal; Taylor led a brigade running back and forth, pretending to cross the stream from the central Mickey Shoal, in order to feint and confuse the enemy, but not to get involved in the battle; The Miles Division, as a reserve for Taylor's Division, quietly crossed the stream from Blackburn Shoal to the east, and then quickly attacked the center opposite Mitch Shoal, helping Taylor's Brigade and a brigade led by McDowell himself.

At the same time, on the opposite side of Bul Creek, the commander of the Confederate Army, Beauretgard, also began his last transfer of troops before the battle.

He also coincidentally divided his 20,000-strong Portmark Regiment into five brigades, the Ivey Brigade was placed at the westernmost United Mill to defend, the Jones Brigade was transferred to McLean Shoal, the two brigades Longsley and Bonham were deployed in Blackburn Shoal and Mickey Shoal respectively, the Brigade was defended next to Mitch Shoal, and the newly arrived half brigade of two small regiments defended the Stone Bridge, ready to support the Bonham Brigade defending Mitch Shoal. Beauregard wanted McDowell to attack Mickey Shoal, which was in the center of the defense, and he had already used half of his artillery and half of his cavalry to support the Bonham Brigade. This is his judgment on the basis of the intelligence that he learned in advance about the direction of the opponent's attack.

Then, the good news came that Richmond had ordered Johnston's troops to join him east of Blue Ridge and attack the invading McDowell. But Beauregard was still unusually angry, and according to his request, reinforcements from Johnston's ministry should have arrived long ago. His assistant, Colonel Guismo, offered to rush at once to the mountains of the southwest, where a friend of his, Brigadier General Jackson, a brigade commander under General Johnston, who led a Virginia Infantry Brigade and was able to fight well and could bypass General Johnston's orders and lead directly to the support of the Virginia Infantry Brigade as long as the situation was urgent and Richmond's order telegram was in hand. Although Beauregard felt that the advice of his assistant was useless, he still acted as a dead horse doctor and asked him to call for reinforcements.

At this time, the spies from the front came to report that nearly 6,000 people of the Taylor Brigade of the Northern Federation somehow, with a little temptation, forcibly crossed the stream directly from Mickey Shoal.