July, 1861  ---  from under a pack in Beauregard’s supply wagon,    
                 1st battle of Bull Run, Va.


I rode North with Beauregard’s Confederate army. He wanted to disrupt 
a railroad junction at Manassas, on his way to Washington.  When we 
got there, Union troops attacked, but everyone said they were "green."  
(I thought they got sick  --  but "green" really means they are new 
and untrained.) 

Even so, Union troops were winning, until Confederate reinforcements 
arrived by rail, resulting in a Southern victory, and a messy Union 
retreat toward Washington.  It was a first in military history - 
moving troops and using a railroad to change a battle outcome.  (If 
railroads are so important, even rats can see it gives the industrial 
North, with 3/4ths of the country’s railroad track, a BIG advantage 
over the agricultural South, with only 1/4th!)

During one attack, Confederate General Thomas J. Jackson stood his 
ground so bravely & stubbornly, that I heard General Bee say: "Yonder 
stands Jackson like a stone wall, let’s go to his assistance!"  and  
Jackson was ever-after known as "Stonewall."   Wounded, Gen. Bee died 
the next day, but his comment lives on!

The North began to realize for the 1st time, this might be a long war.  
And deadly!

At first, the South had MUCH better military leaders.  Rats are saying 
the North appointed some officers because of  political influence, 
instead of military excellence -- which was OK in peacetime, but caused 
awful losses on the battlefield during wartime.  The North figured THAT 
out in a hurry! 

Beauregard’s horse told me that Civil War battles have 2 names.  The 
South is naming them after the nearest settlement (like the town of 
Manassas), and the North is naming them after the nearest body of water 
(like Bull Run -- a "run" is a creek).  And it’s all the same battle!

Rats lead pretty simple lives, compared to humans.