ARMY & NAVY: At Manassas

ARMY & NAVY

Pessimistic old General Winfield Scott said it would take three years and 300,000 men to put down the rebellion. But Washington socialites thought otherwise. On the morning of July 21, 1861 they climbed in their carriages, rolled 30 miles south to a hilltop above Manassas, Va. to watch the Union troops under McDowell smash through the Confederate lines in the War's first major engagement, march on to Richmond and a swift end of Secession.

That evening socialites and Union troops were swarming back to Washington in a panic. For five hours...

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