# 4523 - 2011 First-Class Forever Stamp - Civil War Sesquicentennial: 1st Battle of Bull Run
U.S. #4523
2011 44¢ First Battle of Bull Run
Civil War Sesquicentennial
Issue Date: April 12, 2011
City: Charleston, SC
Quantity: 60,000,000
Printed By: Ashton Potter
Printing Method: Offset
Color: Multicolored
“The time for compromise has now passed, and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel.” – Jefferson Davis
Both the Union and the Confederacy predicted a short war and an easy victory in the days following the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Impatient Northerners pushed President Lincoln to attack the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia.
On July 16, 1861, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell gathered 35,000 untrained Union soldiers and marched toward Richmond. The men traveled two days through sweltering heat before reaching Centreville, Virginia, where they rested and regrouped.
In nearby Manassas Junction, an equally inexperienced Confederate army of 34,000 men waited, protecting the vital supply line to Richmond. On July 21, 1861, the two armies met near Bull Run River in the first major land battle of the Civil War. Congressional families gathered to picnic nearby.
A Confederate brigade commanded by Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson held its ground at the Battle of Bull Run. The Union army suffered heavy casualties and was forced to retreat. Sobered by the violence, the nation readied for a long war.
Birth Of Mary Walker
The youngest of seven children, Walker was raised in a progressive household where her parents encouraged her to be a free thinker. Walker’s parents wanted Mary and her sisters to get the same education as their son, so they founded the first free schoolhouse in Oswego, which Mary attended.
Walker graduated from Syracuse Medical College at the age of 21 after attending three 13-week semesters of training. She then married a fellow physician and set up a medical practice in Rome, New York, but both the business and the marriage failed.
Walker tried to join the Union Army when the Civil War began but was denied a commission, so she volunteered as a surgeon. At the time, the Army didn’t allow female surgeons so she was admitted as a nurse, but eventually became acting assistant surgeon, becoming the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army. For two years, Walker served at the front lines including the First Battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chattanooga, after the Battle of Chickamauga. In 1863, she was appointed assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland and eventually the 52nd Ohio Infantry.
After an extensive illness, Walker died on February 21, 1919, in Oswego, New York. The state college located in the city, SUNY Oswego, has a medical center named in her honor. There was also a Liberty ship named after her during World War II.
U.S. #4523
2011 44¢ First Battle of Bull Run
Civil War Sesquicentennial
Issue Date: April 12, 2011
City: Charleston, SC
Quantity: 60,000,000
Printed By: Ashton Potter
Printing Method: Offset
Color: Multicolored
“The time for compromise has now passed, and the South is determined to maintain her position, and make all who oppose her smell Southern powder and feel Southern steel.” – Jefferson Davis
Both the Union and the Confederacy predicted a short war and an easy victory in the days following the attack on Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Impatient Northerners pushed President Lincoln to attack the Confederate capital in Richmond, Virginia.
On July 16, 1861, Brigadier General Irvin McDowell gathered 35,000 untrained Union soldiers and marched toward Richmond. The men traveled two days through sweltering heat before reaching Centreville, Virginia, where they rested and regrouped.
In nearby Manassas Junction, an equally inexperienced Confederate army of 34,000 men waited, protecting the vital supply line to Richmond. On July 21, 1861, the two armies met near Bull Run River in the first major land battle of the Civil War. Congressional families gathered to picnic nearby.
A Confederate brigade commanded by Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson held its ground at the Battle of Bull Run. The Union army suffered heavy casualties and was forced to retreat. Sobered by the violence, the nation readied for a long war.
Birth Of Mary Walker
The youngest of seven children, Walker was raised in a progressive household where her parents encouraged her to be a free thinker. Walker’s parents wanted Mary and her sisters to get the same education as their son, so they founded the first free schoolhouse in Oswego, which Mary attended.
Walker graduated from Syracuse Medical College at the age of 21 after attending three 13-week semesters of training. She then married a fellow physician and set up a medical practice in Rome, New York, but both the business and the marriage failed.
Walker tried to join the Union Army when the Civil War began but was denied a commission, so she volunteered as a surgeon. At the time, the Army didn’t allow female surgeons so she was admitted as a nurse, but eventually became acting assistant surgeon, becoming the first female surgeon in the U.S. Army. For two years, Walker served at the front lines including the First Battle of Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chattanooga, after the Battle of Chickamauga. In 1863, she was appointed assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland and eventually the 52nd Ohio Infantry.
After an extensive illness, Walker died on February 21, 1919, in Oswego, New York. The state college located in the city, SUNY Oswego, has a medical center named in her honor. There was also a Liberty ship named after her during World War II.