Irvin McDowell (15 October 1818-4 May 1885) was a Major-General of the US Army during the American Civil War, best-known for his leadership of the Army of the Potomac at the First Battle of Bull Run at the start of the war in 1861.
Biography[]
Irvin McDowell was born in 1818 in Columbus, Ohio, the son of mayor Abram Irvin McDowell, the cousin-in-law of John Buford, and brother of John Adair McDowell. He graduated from West Point in 1838 and served as John E. Wool's aide-de-camp during the Mexican-American War; he was promoted to Major in 1856. McDowell was promoted to Brigadier-General in 1861 at the start of the American Civil War, and he was given command of the Army of the Potomac in Maryland. McDowell and his army advanced south into Virginia, hoping to capture the Confederate States capital of Richmond, but his army would be defeated at the First Battle of Bull Run, and he was replaced as commander by George B. McClellan, commanding a division instead. After another defeat at Bull Run in 1862, he was sent to command the Department of the West in California, and he became park commissioner of San Francisco. McDowell died in 1885 at the age of 66 in San Francisco.
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