The battle of Manassas was located in Manassas, Virginia on July 21, 1861. The outcome was a Confederate victory. Their strategy was using Rose O'Neal Greenhow to give them the route of the Unions to know exactly where they were going. The Union on the other hand were very aggressive in the battle. Abraham Lincoln asked Brigadier General Irwin McDowell, which was the commander of the Army of Northeastern Virginia, to go to the South and engage the Confederate force. The South was commanded by Brigadier General Beauregard. McDowell was unsure of the orders given to him. He knew that his army was inexperienced compared to the South. McDowell had a plan to use two-thirds of his men to make a distracting frontal attack on Beauregard's men. While at the same time give the Confederates a surprise attack with a third of his army against and behind his right flank. McDowell wanted to make sure that Beauregard's army could not go back to Richmond. If he wanted this plan to work he had to make sure it was perfectly accurate. The attack started at 2:30 and did not go as planned in the beginning. The only success in the early hours of the battle was done by Colonel William Tecumseh Sherman. He was able to find an unguarded fort at Bull Run, which he crossed and engaged the right flank of Beaurgard's army. Sherman's attack was unexpected and caused the Confederate defenders facing them to retreat. The battle was still not over. Union forces fell back into dissarray because their inexperienced army did not know how to control the situation. As they started to step back the Confederate artillery fired on them which created panic in some places. The Union's one advantage was that the Confederate force was equally disorganized and did not take advantage of the situation. The Confederates were then in a disagreement on the strategy. Resulting, nothing was done and McDowell's force was allowed to withdraw towards Washington free from attack. Washington thought there was going to be a Confederate attack on the capital but it never occured. McDowell was blamed for the loss and was replaced by George McClellan and Beauregard was promoted to full general. At the time, the battle of bull run led to more casualties than any battle has yet experienced in America. The North had lost 2,896 men and the South lost 1,982 men.