July 16, 1861---"You are all green alike."

JULY 16, 1861:  

The run-up to Bull Run:   

Brigadier General Irvin McDowell departs Washington at the head of the largest land army ever assembled in North America to date. 

McDowell was appointed by President Abraham Lincoln to command the Army of Northeastern Virginia. Once in this capacity, McDowell was harassed by impatient politicians and citizens in Washington, who wished to see a quick battlefield victory over the Confederate Army in northern Virginia. Rebel forces were too close to Washington, D.C., and most Northerners believed the war could be won with a single knockout blow. 

McDowell, however, was concerned about the untried nature of his army. He was reassured by President Lincoln, "You are green, it is true, but they are green also; you are all green alike." 

Against his better judgment, McDowell commenced campaigning. 

The general departed Washington with 35,000 men. McDowell's plan was to move westward in three columns, make a diversionary attack on the Confederate line with two columns at Bull Run, near Manassas, Virginia, while the third column moved around the Confederates' right flank to the south, cutting the railroad to Richmond and threatening the rear of the rebel army. He assumed that the Confederates would be forced to abandon Manassas Junction and fall back to the Rappahannock River, the next defensible line in Virginia, which would relieve some of the pressure on Washington, D.C.