Atlas of Battles

battle, major, nineteenth century

Second Battle of Bull Run

Second Battle of Bull Run was a battle fought in 1862 at Prince William County, in what is now Virginia, United States. It was part of the Eastern theater of the American Civil War. The recorded result: Confederate victory.

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Ruins of Stone Bridge, Bull Run, Virginia, March 1862.
Ruins of Stone Bridge, Bull Run, Virginia, March 1862.. George N. Barnard / James F. Gibson, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought1862
WherePrince William County, Virginia, United States38.812N, 77.521W
OutcomeConfederate victory
BelligerentsUSA United StatesagainstConfederate States
Battlefield todaySecond Manassas battlefieldNPS site VA026, 28,479 acres studied, 11,314 core
Part ofEastern theater of the American Civil War

Record

Date1862 (year precision)
to 30 August 1862
PlacePrince William County, Virginia, United States
38.812N, 77.521W
KindBattle, nineteenth century
Strength77,000 (estimated):
Commanders
Second Battle of Bull RunSecond Battle of Bull RunFirst Battle of Bull RunBattle of Blackburn's FordManassas Station OperationsBattle of Bristoe StationBattle of ChantillyBattle of Blackburn's FordBattle of Bristoe StationBattle of ChantillyWinchesterSt. Charles50 km38.812N, 77.521W
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. The dashed outline is the battlefield study area mapped by the NPS American Battlefield Protection Program. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Second Battle of Bull Run
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Second Battle of Bull Run today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2023-04-13. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2023.

The recorded site stands at about 83 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from -62 to 123 m, 185 m of relief, hilly country and today it is 54% tree cover, 28% grassland, 15% built-up.

tree cover: 54%grassland: 28%built-up: 15%bare ground: 2%tree cover 54%grassland 28%built-up 15%bare ground 2%
west to east, 10.0 km47 to 107 mnorth to south, 10.0 km-32 to 100 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1862

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: US ARMY OF VIRGINIA(+)Defender: CS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA
Strength75,69648,527
Casualties14,462 (19.1%)9,474 (19.5%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1039
Outcomedefender won
Duration2.3 days
Front width4 km2.4 km
Attacker advanced-1.6 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 189), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

The National Park Service's American Battlefield Protection Program maps this as the Second Manassas battlefield (site VA026): a study area of 28,479 acres, with a core area of 11,314 acres where the fighting was concentrated; 13,162 acres retain enough integrity to be potentially eligible for the National Register.

Second Battle of Bull Run is one of 3,507 engagements of the 19th century in the atlas and one of 1,148 in present-day United States (172 in Virginia).

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q233343, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Second Battle of Bull Run, revision 1380704377, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Battlefield boundary and area from the National Park Service American Battlefield Protection Program (public domain). Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.