Searching for Irvin McDowell

A study of the life, career, and controversies of a forgotten Civil War Union Army general.

“Thanks to great research and writing by Frank Simione and Gene Schmiel—not to mention Hal Jespersen’s incredible maps—readers will better understand McDowell the man and his impact on the Civil War. This is an important book that should open many eyes to McDowell’s life, career, and legacy.” —Benjamin T. Arrington, author of The Last Lincoln Republican: The Presidential Election of 1880

Irvin McDowell was a prominent figure during the early months of the Civil War. With so much at stake, he was called upon to lead the Union’s largest Eastern Theater army. Pressed by the media and President Abraham Lincoln to move into Virginia and defeat the Confederates gathering there, McDowell led his neophyte army out to the plains of Manassas and was soundly defeated. McDowell went on to hold an independent command in northern Virginia during the Peninsula Campaign and serve in the Army of Virginia under Maj. Gen. John Pope during the disastrous Second Bull Run Campaign. Despite his significant contributions, a lack of personal papers left him in obscurity.

Authors Frank Simione Jr. and Gene Schmiel used available sources to create a reliable and readable synthesis of the man and his career to fill a sizable gap in the historiography. Unless or until his private papers surface, Searching for Irvin McDowell will stand as the best treatment available.

“Does a solid job of establishing the significance of the general’s role in the war and fairly describing and assessing those considerable leadership flaws and battlefield mistakes that have contributed to his enduring low standing among the war’s prominent generals.” —Andrew Wagenhoffer, Civil War Books and Authors, cwba.blogspot.com

“In Searching for Irvin McDowell, Frank P. Simione Jr. and Gene Schmiel provide a study of the general, his endeavors during the war, and the controversies that surrounded him that will be useful to anyone seeking to understand the first two years of America’s bloodiest war.” —Ethan S. Rafuse, author of From the Mountains to the Bay