11/13/2023 0 Comments Great skedaddle![]() ![]() Busses load at 6:05am and leave at 6:15am sharp. The Sioux Falls Skedaddle Half Marathon, race starts at 7am at Family Park and finishes at Fawick Park, start time is 7am.Īll participants will be bussed from Fawick Park to Family Park for the start of the race. The Zippy Mile, Start line will be near Cherry Rock Park, this is a point-to-point race finishing at Fawick Park, Saturday May 20th, start time 5pm. There will be food, arts and crafts, stage presentations, health and wellness experts and more. Entry to the expo is free and all members of the community are encouraged to attend. This is where you will pick-up your event materials and most importantly your race bib. The casualties of Bull Run were significant but they would soon be overshadowed by the Butcher’s Bill at Shiloh and Antietam.60.5 Move Expo, Saturday May 20th, 9am – 4pm. The American Civil War was going to last more than just a couple of weeks. The Great Skedaddle is an example of one side overestimating the resolve of the other and of civilians making themselves look incredibly stupid. The United States was not used to fighting protracted wars since the Revolution and victory in 1861 appeared to be too logical. Perhaps the problem lies in periods of peace clouding thoughts. A quick end was the opinion of many people when World War I started. We must be fair to the civilians they were not the only ones who thought a war would end soon. What started out as a certain victory ended up as one of the worst embarrassments suffered by an American army. The possibility of ransoming this crowd, or using them to broker a peace, might’ve changed events dramatically. Moreover, if Beauregard had ordered more Confederate cavalry to follow the Union retreat, many congressmen and their families might have been captured. If Confederate artillery had been angled properly, the social elite of Washington would have been wiped out with a few well-placed rounds. The Confederates won the fight but their inexperienced soldiers did not follow up on an opportunity to chase the defeated, and demoralized, enemy back to Washington.īull Run was a Union defeat but it could have been an incredible catastrophe. Their carriages and buggies help create a massive traffic jam on the road back to Washington. The civilians noticed the turn of events and packed up to head back home. Union soldiers did not orderly withdraw but ran away as fast as they could. What happened next was an embarrassing retreat. Jackson earn his Stonewall nickname at this battle and the Confederates were able to turn the tide. The battle itself went well for the Union in the beginning but things got worse when General Joseph E Johnston’s men showed up in railroad boxcars from the Shenandoah Valley. Civilians no doubt fought for front row seats However, it is also possible the large number of politicians and politically powerful people in the spectator gallery made McDowell hesitant. Part of this can be due to general battle inexperience (McDowell served the Mexican War, but was primarily a staff officer for most of his career). It would’ve been easy enough to have soldiers stationed on the road to turn the civilians back, but McDowell did not do that. Combat is no spectator sport and McDowell should have known that a civilian entourage at his rear could complicate any withdrawal. We are not referring to civilians but the military. It would be the talk of the season and their friends back in the capital would be so envious for not joining in the fun. It was going to be a glorious day and the high society crowd did not want to miss the predictable victory for the boys in blue. They were following the soldiers of McDowell’s command and were armed with picnic baskets and full of conversation. C., and the hoi polloi of the Union capital decided to have a holiday. The battlefield itself was not that far from Washington D. Both sides were inexperienced and to paraphrase President Abraham Lincoln, it was going to be an encounter where the green would be leading the green. The engagement took place on July 21, 1861, between a Union Army of 35,000 men under Brigadier General Irwin McDowell and a Confederate Army of 32,000 commanded by Brigadier General P.G.T. It would just take one massive blow to bring the Confederacy down and that was the prevailing belief. The notion that a nation the size of the Confederacy would give up quickly appears ridiculous in hindsight, but many believed it could happen. It would just require a major victory to convince the South to give up. No one expected the fighting to last four years.Īll the optimism rested on a knockout punch. It was the popular consensus in the North as the American Civil War began. While military folks are more skeptical, civilians think a conflict can be over in a matter of weeks. ![]() The quicker things are finished, the better. Everyone enjoys the glory, but no one likes the cost. Napoleon reportedly said that war is the business of barbarians.
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