On July 16, 1861, General Irvin McDowell's Federal army, 35,000 strong, marched proudly out of Washington, heading for a confrontation with the Confederate army at Manassas, Virginia, a key railroad junction. The talk had all been confident that the Federals would defeat the South easily. After all, the Philippi Races had shown the Confederates to be untrained and weak.

No one wanted to hear the naysayers, those who cautioned that the Northern army, too, was untrained and unready. The prospect of preparing for a long war was rejected, and those who, perhaps, knew better were shunted to the back of the cheering throngs. Even President Abraham Lincoln had commented, "You are green, it is true, but they are green also; you are both green alike."