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This full 360° panoramic photograph, taken on Henry Hill, shows the site of the first major battle of the Civil War, First Manassas or First Bull Run, July 21, 1861. After facing the army of General P. T. G. Beauregard for three days across Bull Run, the Union commander General Irvin McDowell successfully crossed the small stream north of the Confederate left and commenced to attack. After early successes, the Union pressed their advantage to the heights of the hill where the Henry House stood and near where General Thomas Jackson had positioned his Virginians to halt the Union advance. It was here where Jackson's heroic stand earned him the lasting sobriquet, Stonewall. Rallying along Jackson's line, the Confederates reformed and, with the steady arrival of reinforcements, held the position. In a series of chaotic engagements, the Southerners ultimately drove the Federal army from the field, a panicked retreat that didn't end till the Union survivors entered the fortifications of Washington, some twenty-five miles away.
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