Peirce's column shoots itself in the dark, then breaks against Magruder's line at Big Bethel

Virginia had been out of the Union for less than three weeks when the armies met at Big Bethel. On June 10, 1861, Union forces under Brigadier General Ebenezer Peirce marched through the night toward Confederate positions in York County, Virginia — only to shoot at each other before they reached the enemy. Colonel Magruder's Confederates repulsed the disorganized attack with just eight casualties; Peirce's column lost 76, including 18 dead. Among them were Major Theodore Winthrop and Lieutenant John T. Greble, the first regular U.S. Army officer killed in the war…