The Battle of Second Bull Run began 157 years ago today

I often see historians argue back and forth between this battle and Chancellorsville as being Robert E. Lee's greatest victory.

In the summer of 1862, Lee had thrown back George McClellan's Army of the Potomac from the Gates of Richmond. A new army, this one under the command of John Pope, began to march south from the area of Washington D.C. to try at Richmond from the north. Lee left a token force under James Longstreet to watch McClellan on the Virginia peninsula while he and Stonewall Jackson marched north to take on Pope and his Army of Virginia.

Pope took up a strong position on the Rappahannock River, daring Lee to attempt a crossing. In response, Lee divided his army and sent Jackson on a wide flanking march around Pope's army. He ended up in Pope's rear and managed to destroy Pope's supply base at Manassas Junction. Pope turned around and began searching for Jackson while Longstreet and Lee lingered in the rear.

Jackson ambushed the lead elements of Pope's army just two miles away from the old Bull Run battlefield at 6 PM on August 28, 1862. His 25,000 men poured out of the woods around the small hamlet of Groveton and did battle with a division of Federal soldiers under the command of Rufus King. For two hours, Jackson's forces tried in vain to collapse the Union line but these Federals, while inexperienced, held their ground against Jackson's battle-hardened veterans. When the battle ended on account of darkness some two hours later, more than 2,000 Union and Confederate soldiers remained behind on the field killed and wounded.

The battle, which became known as the Battle of Brawner Farm, ended in a stalemate. Jackson and his forces fell back into the woods, using an unfinished railroad cut as a defensive line while Pope brought the balance of his army forward to attack Jackson on the next day (August 29).