Before Bull Run

Little if anything is written about the "Three Month Men" that answered President Lincoln's clarion call for 75,000 loyal militia volunteers after the insurgent Confederate government attacked and took Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861. Few also appreciate how vulnerable Washington D.C., the nation's capital, was to rebel capture, especially after the Commonwealth of Virginia, which understandably refused to provide troops to smash the rebels, joined the Southern Confederacy. This is the story of the Army of Pennsylvania, part of that Three Month force, which was assembled not only to help defend Washington and keep Maryland in the Union, but to also act in concert with McDowell's Army of Northeastern Virginia that attacked the strong rebel lines along Bull Run Creek. To cover the McDowell's-and the administration's-loss at Bull Run, blame was shifted onto General Robert Patterson and his Army of Pennsylvania for political reasons. This book covers how the Lincoln administration operated during the first critical months of the war, how the Army of Pennsylvania was raised, trained, and equipped on such short notice, and how and why it operated in Maryland and western Virginia, including its action at Falling Waters.