Through out history, there have been many scenes of carnage and death that people have viewed as entertainment, and sometimes even paid to enjoy. At the start of the Civil War, the high society of Washington DC would be present not only at the first battle of the Civil War, but at what can only be described as the worst picnic in history.
At the start of the Civil War, many people severely underestimated the carnage and death that the American Civil War would bring on the country. There is a reason that President Lincoln made the first enlistment period for only 90 days. Both sides thought the other would turn and "skedaddle" at the first sound of a shot fired, and the war would be over. Men and boys signing up to go off to war saw it as not much more than a grand adventure. Remember, many of these boys had never been more than few miles from their house, and now they were marching off as soldiers to distant glorious battlefields.
Even the people left behind found it all very exciting. Women found the soldiers very handsome, entire towns came together to send off "their" units with a great festive atmosphere. It was almost as if no one stopped to think what war actually meant. That it meant real bullets and cannon, death and destruction. Instead thinking it would happen like a grand play on an epic scale, with everyone returning home quickly, safely and ready to regale their friends with their tales of heroism.
With this festive atmosphere and rosy view of war running strong, in July of 1861 the very green Union and Confederate army's finally moved into place to bring about the one great battle that would settle this disunion issue once and for all. Less than 30 miles outside of Washington DC ran a creek known as Bull Run that ran past a small town called Manassas. This unsuspecting little town would soon hold the distinction of being the location of the first battle of the American Civil War.
Only a few short months after the surrender of Fort Sumter, the northern public was anxious to settle the score with the upstart Confederate Army, and was clamoring for their grand army to march on Richmond, which they felt would bring about a speedy end to the pesky war. So General McDowell marched his men across the Bull Run Creek, where their complicated plan for a surprise attack on the Confederate left flag quickly fell apart with the insufficiently drilled troops. However, the Confederates were not having a much better time of it, so initially they were at the disadvantage.
Surely this Confederate disadvantage caused great excitement in the Washingtonians who had traveled in their carriages, dressed in their Sunday best, to picnic while watching the great battle. (I can only imagine the conversations that happened organizing those plans!) High Society, including members of Congress and women, surely cheered and toasted their boys with champagne as the tide of battle seemed to be easily in hand for their boys in blue.
However, this festive atmosphere would quickly turn to panic, as the Confederates rallied behind one regiment led by Thomas Jackson, who would gain his infamous nickname of "Stonewall" from this battle, as he encouraged his men to stand against the Union onslaught.
Quickly this stand by the Confederate Army would force the Union soldiers into a disorderly retreat, and then into a terrified route, as they fled the terror of the battlefield. As the battlefield began to engulf the picnic goers, and wounded and panicked soldiers began to stream past them, the finely dressed men and women in their carriages quickly tried to join the melee back towards the safety of the city of Washington. The screams of the wounded and dying mingled with the shrieks of women and the neighing of frightened horses as the bridge leading back to the city quickly became jammed from all of the traffic.
As the Union Army and the battle observers streamed back into Washington, the city itself was in a panic. Would the Confederate Army press their advantage and attack Washington? Would the Union Army be able to stand and defend the city if they did? Rain fell on the city, and exhausted troops slept on the streets. For days the city was in a state of panic and anxious waiting. But the Confederate troops would be to disorganized and exhausted themselves, to chase the terrified Union Troops into Washington.
Needless to say, the battle of Manassas (or Bull Run) worked to quickly sober both sides to the cost of war, and helping people to understand the enormity of the situation they now find themselves. Little could they know in those anxious days, that as the bloody war dragged, the losses at Manassas would come to seem small compared to losses on other bloody battlefields across the country.
And never again, would a battle be accompanied by a festive atmosphere or be observed by fancy dressed picnic goers. The worst picnic in history, had forever ended the delusion that this war nothing more than a form of entertainment.
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