The Battle of Big Bethel
2016 Civil War Reenactment of The Battle of Big Bethel June 10, 1861 at Hale Farm and Village. Following the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln called for 75,000 men to aid in putting down the rebellion. Unwilling to provide soldiers, Virginia instead elected to leave the Union and join the Confederacy. The engagement at Big Bethel on June 10, 1861, didn’t amount to much. Had it occurred later in the conflict, it would have hardly merited any mention in the newspapers. Regardless, the fray between mostly amateur soldiers marked the first land battle of the conflict and sent a sobering message—that brave young men, lots of brave young men, were going to die in this war.
