The Great Visions of Ellen G. White

An Incredible Revelation

First Bull Run/Manassas was the first major land battle of the Civil War. It was fought near Washington, D.C., in northern Virginia, on July 21, 1861, by armies of nearly equal strength. In vision Ellen White witnessed this “disastrous” battle, characterizing it as “a most exciting, distressing scene.” ³⁸ GVEGW 84.1

While both North and South suffered horrendously large casualties, at one point the North was pushing ahead when “an angel descended” from heaven to the battlefield “and waved his hand backward. Instantly there was confusion in the ranks. It appeared to the Northern men that their troops were retreating, when it was not so in reality, and a precipitate retreat commenced. This seemed wonderful [amazing] to me.” ³⁹ GVEGW 84.2

Then her angel explained that “God had this nation in His own hand, and would not suffer victories to be gained faster than He ordained.” The North was not to be allowed to win a quick, decisive battle, thus ending the war abruptly, because it was to be punished for condoning slavery before the war and also for not making abolition the principal ethical issue in the war. ⁴⁰ GVEGW 84.3

(At first Lincoln was entirely willing to permit the continuation of slavery, if the Union might thereby be preserved. It was not until January 1, 1863—two years later—that he finally came to the point of making abolition the main stated purpose of the war and issued the Emancipation Proclamation.) GVEGW 84.4

As God “would not permit” an early Northern victory, He “sent an angel to interfere. The sudden falling back of the Northern troops is a mystery to all. They know not that God’s hand was in the matter.” ⁴¹ GVEGW 84.5

Many American Civil War historians recognize a mysterious element in this battle, though understandably, virtually all fail to see a supernatural element in its genesis. GVEGW 84.6

Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager, in their highly respected Growth of the American Republic, 1000-1865, characterize this battle as “a scene of extraordinary confusion. For hours it was anyone’s battle, although the famous stand of the Stonewall Virginia brigade probably averted a Union victory. Union retreat turned to rout.” ⁴² GVEGW 84.7

Extraordinary confusion! This was the very word Ellen White employed in 1861 to describe the scene, after the arrival and interference of the angel! GVEGW 85.1

C.S.A. Lt. Col. W. W. Blackford’s personal account of the day’s developments supports the account of Ellen White—minus, of course, the descending angel. He had been with “Stonewall” Jackson’s forces when, at about 4:00 p.m., “the battle raged with unabated fury. The lines of blue were unbroken and their fire was as vigorous as ever while they surged against the solid walls of gray, standing immovable in their front.” GVEGW 85.2

Blackford’s attention was momentarily distracted in another direction, when he heard someone shouting, “Look! Look!” He looked back, and “what a change had taken place in an instant. Where those well-dressed, well-defined lines, with clear spaces between, had been steadily pressing forward, the whole field was a confused swarm of men, like bees, running away as fast as their legs could carry them, with all order and organization abandoned. In a moment more the whole valley was filled with them as far as the eye could reach.” ⁴³ GVEGW 85.3

Yale University’s Ralph H. Gabriel reports tersely, “The Federal assault at first succeeded. The Confederates gave ground and even showed signs of incipient demoralization.” But then suddenly, inexplicably, a Southern victory. Gabriel attributes the Confederate success to the brigade of Gen. Thomas Jonathan (“Stonewall”) Jackson (who earned his sobriquet that day) as he “stood fast.” ⁴⁴ GVEGW 85.4

Gettysburg College’s Gabor S. Boritt ⁴⁵ and Rice University’s Frank E. Van Divier also posit a nonsupernaturalistic explanation, the latter adding a generally accepted assessment that the battle had twofold significance: (1) the North, for the first time, was convinced of the war’s seriousness, ending all talk of a “short, quick” war, realizing it faced a long fight ahead; and (2) the Confederate’s overconfidence in final victory soared and remained unrealistically high for the next two years, ⁴⁶ in its own way doubtlessly perpetuating hostilities a bit longer than perhaps otherwise might have been the case. GVEGW 85.5