Confederate Military History: The Battle of Big Bethel

Confederate Military History is a 12-volume series of books written and/or edited by former Confederate general Clement A. Evans that deals with specific topics related to the military personalities, places, battles, and campaigns in various Southern United States, including those of the Confederacy.

Written with a heavy Southern slant, the articles that comprise the compendium deal with the famous events of the war. This account is of the Battle of Big Bethel, also known as the Battle of Bethel Church or Great Bethel, which was one of the earliest land battles of the Civil War. The battle between Union Army and Confederate States Army forces on June 10, 1861 took place in Hampton and York County, Virginia, While small in comparison to the many larger, bloodier and more significant battles later in the war, the Battle of Big Bethel and all early Civil War military engagements attracted considerable notice, press coverage and exaggerated importance because of the newness of the war and the general feeling the war would be short.