The second episode in this Civil War series covers the war's opening weeks, when both sides still believed one decisive battle could settle the conflict. It traces the buildup to First Bull Run near Manassas, Virginia, where inexperienced Union and Confederate armies collided in July 1861, with green recruits and even civilian spectators expecting a quick, tidy fight. Archival maps, battlefield footage, and expert interviews lay out how Union lines broke under Confederate counterattacks led by officers including Thomas Jackson, soon nicknamed 'Stonewall,' and how the retreat turned into a chaotic scramble back toward Washington. The film explains why the defeat sent panic through the capital and forced Lincoln's government to accept that the war would be long and costly rather than a single-battle affair. Framed within the wider series on the Civil War's four years and roughly 600,000 dead, this episode uses period accounts and battlefield detail to show the moment illusions of a quick war collapsed.