The First Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Manassas, marked the first major land battle of the American Civil War. ... The engagement began when about 35,000 Union troops marched from the federal capital in Washington, D.C. to strike a Confederate force of 20,000 along a small river known as Bull Run.The South wanted to just keep pushing through the war until the idea of war became unpopular in the North and gave up. What did both sides learn from the Battle of Bull Run? Both sides learned that the war was going to be long and bloody and that their soldiers needed training.
