General Irvin McDowell, US Army

Major General Irvin McDowell
(1818 - 1885)

A Union general in the U.S. Civil War. McDowell attacked and was defeated by the Confederates in the First Battle of Bull Run.

McDowell was born in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 15, 1818, and died on May 4, 1885. He was a Union general in the U.S. Civil War. In May 1861, McDowell, an 1838 graduate of West Point, became commander of the Union army south of Washington, D.C. In July he attacked and was defeated by the Confederates in the First Battle of Bull Run. Relieved of command, he was later a corps commander in the Union defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run (August 1862), where his actions were criticized. Although cleared of charges of misconduct, McDowell saw no further combat. He headed (1864-82) various U.S. military departments and was later parks commissioner in San Francisco.

(See Bibliography below)

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Photograph: Brady National Photographic Art Gallery, Library of Congress.
Bibliography: Davis, William C., The Battle of Bull Run (1977); Hassler, Warren W., Commanders of the Army of the Potomac (1962).