Show FIRST ENGAGEMENT OF CIVIL WAR WAS ON MAY 24 1861 HE E war proper maybe said to T have opened on the twenty- twenty fourth fourt of May The engagement engagement engagement en en- was at nt Bethel Bethe Church here Gen B. B F. F Butler was In command and in western Virginia Gen George B. B McClellan began to be bea a conspicuous figure In tho the latter part of May General Morris MOrTis won an engagement at Philippi and on the eleventh of July General McClellan gained a victory at Rich mountain On the tenth of August General Rosecrans Rose- Rose trans crans drove out a detachment of the enemy at Carnifax Ferr Ferry On the eleventh of June Col Lewis Wallace made matJe a successful onset at nt Romney These and other minor engagements occurred up to the sixteenth of ot July when began the first battle of Bull Run On that day the Federal army moved forward and an Important engagement engagement engagement en en- took place between Centerville Center- Center vUle ville and Bull Run They pressed forward forward forward for for- ward and on the twenty-first twenty day of July found the enemy strongly posted between Bull nuu Run and Manassas Junc Junc- tion General McDowell successful at first was driven back buck by the re en Missouri now became a battlefield for fot the contending armies Captain Nathaniel Lyon acted promptly at Camp Jackson near bt St t. t Louis and saved the arms and stores Later General Lyon gained h b. a decided advantage advantage ad nd- vantage at Booneville and on the fifth of July the Federal troops under Col Franz Fran were again successful at Carthage On the tenth of August the hardest battle fought thus far farr Inthe in inthe inthe the West Vest occurred at Wilsons Wilson's creek wh where le General J Lyon yon was killed Gen John Julia C. C Fremont followed the enemy as far tar as ns Springfield II RI and was there superseded by General The enemy led a strong detachment Into the state of Kentucky and cap turgid the town of Columbus where they planted batteries so as to command command com com- mand wand the time Mississippi and the Missouri In order to dislodge ge them Col Ulysses S. S Grant was wn sent with a n brigade of three thousand Illinois troops by way of Cairo into Missouri where he lIe made madea a vigorous and successful attack at Belmont Thus closed military operations operations operations opera opera- in n the West for tor 1801 1861 General Scott was vas unable to bear longer the burden resting upon him and Gen George B. B McClellan was brought from West Virginia to take command of the Army of the Potomac As an organizer and find disciplinarian the young commander had no superior From the first It was seen by the Federal Federal Federal Fed Fed- eral government that the Ute command of ot the seacoast was an essential of or success success success suc suc- cess and a close blockade was placed upon all nU Southern ports At the tho beginning of 1862 the Federal forces numbered about men DIen General McClellan commanding and General Buell who commanded command command- ed another army at ut Louisville Ky began began be be- gan the first of the time colossal military movements |