The stereotypical view of the First Battle of Bull Run, whose anniversary we note on July 21, is that is was a rousing Confederate victory and that the Union troops all ran away like proverbial scared rabbits.
In fact, at one point in that mid-afternoon in 1861, Union commander Irvin McDowell had victory in his hands, but he let it slip away. He had the Confederates on the run, but he hesitated to follow up his early advances, and his inexperienced men panicked.
Last August my colleague Frank Simione, Jr., and I published on amazon.com the first-ever biography of McDowell. Now, I am pleased to say, renowned Civil War published Savas-Beatie has contracted with us to re-publish the book. We hope it will be available in the fall. In the meantime, see the book at: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00HV4SSWK
GENE SCHMIEL, CIVIL WAR HISTORIAN, AUTHOR, AND LECTURER 