A Little Exploration in to Thomas L. Wright

My knowledge of the Civil War is significantly limited. Only as I research family does small snippets come into focus. I am Googling places and battles and maps as I am reading the discombobulated memoirs of Thomas L. Wright. I hadn't realized, for example, that he signed up almost immediately after the shelling of Fort Sumter. Thomas must have felt very strongly about it. The man was a recent immigrant from Northern Ireland. The man was middle aged! (No disrespect intended.) So what was it that he felt strongly about? Keeping the nation together? Or was he more about Civil Rights and the abolition of slavery? What motivated the man?

His memoirs are very discombobulated, but he writes:

From Washington we march on Monday to Brightwood in Md. There we encamped for three weeks. We received orders about 2 o’clock P.M. to march for Bulls run, when within a short distance of that place we met the retreating forces from that disastrous battle. They informed us that the Union forces had met with a serious defeat.  

I know that Thomas registered (is that the right word?) in April 1861. He was mustered in in June 1, 1861, in Troy, NY. Obviously, he made his way with the 30th NY Infantry to Washington, DC. How long did that take? I don't know where Brightwood, Maryland is... but there is a Brightwood neighborhood in DC. And then it seems to be about 13 hours of continuous marching to get to Bull Run, VA.

So, time in upstate NY with his new regiment. A week? That brings us to June 8th or something. Marching to Washington? Wagons? Trains? Trains, probably. (Maybe there will be a clue if I just keep reading.) So, in Washington by the 15th of June? At which point he marches to Brightwood and trains for 3 weeks... That chronology brings us to the first week in July, which makes sense. I wonder why it was important enough to him to mention that orders came at 2 pm? Does that mean they marched through the night?

I took this blurb from here, the website for the Civil War Trust.

Though the Civil War began when Confederate troops shelled Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, the war didn’t begin in earnest until the Battle of Bull Run, fought in Virginia just miles from Washington DC, on July 21, 1861. Popular fervor led President Lincoln to push a cautious Brigadier General Irvin McDowell, commander of the Union army in Northern Virginia, to attack the Confederate forces commanded by Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard, which held a relatively strong position along Bull Run, just northeast of Manassas Junction. The goal was to make quick work of the bulk of the Confederate army, open the way to Richmond, the Confederate capital, and end the war.

The morning of July 21st dawned on two generals planning to outflank their opponent’s left. Hindering the success of the Confederate plan were several communication failures and general lack of coordination between units. McDowell’s forces, on the other had, were hampered by an overly complicated plan that required complex synchronization. Constant and repeated delays on the march and effective scouting by the Confederates gave his movements away, and, worst of all Patterson failed to occupy Johnston’s Confederate forces attention in the west. McDowell’s forces began by shelling the Confederates across Bull Run. Others crossed at Sudley Ford and slowly made their way to attack the Confederate left flank. At the same time as Beauregard sent small detachments to handle what he thought was only a distraction, he also sent a larger contingent to execute flanking a flanking movement of his own on the Union left.

Spectators at Bull RunFighting raged throughout the day as Confederate forces were driven back, despite impressive efforts by Colonel Thomas Jackson to hold important high ground at Henry House Hill, earning him the nom de guerre “Stonewall.” Late in the afternoon, Confederate reinforcements including those arriving by rail from the Shenandoah Valley extended the Confederate line and succeeded in breaking the Union right flank. At the battle’s climax Virginia cavalry under Colonel James Ewell Brown “Jeb” Stuart arrived on the field and charged into a confused mass of New Yorkers, sending them fleetly to the rear. The Federal retreat rapidly deteriorated as narrow bridges, overturned wagons, and heavy artillery fire added to the confusion. The calamitous retreat was further impeded by the hordes of fleeing onlookers who had come down from Washington to enjoy the spectacle. Although victorious, Confederate forces were too disorganized to pursue. By July 22, the shattered Union army reached the safety of Washington. The Battle of Bull Run convinced the Lincoln administration and the North that the Civil War would be a long and costly affair. McDowell was relieved of command of the Union army and replaced by Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan, who set about reorganizing and training the troops.

I guess we know that the 30th NY Regiment was not the New Yorkers mentioned above.... And the safety of Washington, is that Arlington Heghts, mentioned by Thomas?