Just over a year after the first Union disaster at Bull Run, Lee and Jackson humiliated yet another Union army on the same ground — this time by an even wider margin.
The Second Battle of Bull Run (August 28–30, 1862) was fought on the same Virginia fields as the first Union disaster of 1861 — and ended the same way, with a shattered Union army retreating toward Washington. But this time, the scale of Confederate mastery was even more complete.
Stonewall Jackson's corps launched the battle with a strategic masterstroke: a 54-mile flanking march that captured the Union army's massive supply depot at Manassas Junction. His men feasted on the Union stores — then burned what they couldn't carry — before disappearing to wait behind an unfinished railroad embankment.
Union General John Pope fell for the trap completely. Convinced he had cornered Jackson, he ordered repeated frontal assaults against the railroad grade on August 29 — not realizing that Longstreet's 25,000 fresh troops had arrived and were positioned on Jackson's right, waiting.
On August 30, Pope renewed his attacks against Jackson still unaware of Longstreet's presence. Then Longstreet unleashed all five of his divisions simultaneously — described as the largest single mass assault of the entire Civil War — and the Union left flank simply ceased to exist.
Confederate casualties were roughly half of Union losses: about 7,300 Confederate against 14,462 Union killed, wounded, or captured. Lee had achieved a tactical and strategic masterpiece, maneuvering two corps across a huge area and crushing a larger army with near-perfect coordination.
Pope's defeat ended his career — Lincoln relieved him immediately and restored the despised McClellan to command. More consequentially, Lee now had the confidence and momentum to invade the North for the first time, setting the stage for the Battle of Antietam three weeks later.