Irvin McDowell was a Union Army commander during the Civil War. He is most well-known for being on the losing end in two battles at Bull Run.

He was born in Columbus, Ohio, on Oct. 15, 1818. He went to college in France, at the College de Troyes, and returned home to do his military training, graduating from West Point in 1838. He served as a tactics instructor at the Academy for a time and then fought in the Mexican-American War, serving under Gen. John Wool.

After that war, McDowell served on the staff of Gen. Winfield Scott, the U.S. Army's top officer, and Joseph E. Johnston, who would later become a general in the Confederate Army.

McDowell achieved the rank of brigadier general on May 14, 1861, as the Civil War was raging. His command was of the Army of Northeastern Virginia, and his mission was to target the Confederacy with a quick strike. Despite his relative inexperience as a field officer, he drew up a plan for attack and led a group of inexperienced, not at all trained men against Confederate troops at the Battle of Bull Run.

That battle ended with a Confederate victory, and McDowell lost his command. Replacing him was Gen. George McClellan, who gave McDowell a job as a division commander for the Army of the Potomac. He later achieved a new rank of major general of volunteers and served as commander of the I Corps, which defended Washington, D.C. In that capacity, McDowell earned the rank of major general for his actions at the Battle of Cedar Mountain in 1862.

A further command for McDowell was as the head of the III Corps in the Army of Virginia, led by Maj. Gen. John Pope. It was in that capacity that McDowell again led troops into battle at Bull Run. The result of this Second Battle of Bull Run was the same as that of the First Battle of Bull Run: a victory for the Confederacy. Many in the Union Army blamed McDowell for the defeat, and he did not again lead men in live combat.

He left the theater of war in July 1864, taking the position of commander of the Department of the Pacific. Subsequent appointments included these:

• Commander of the Department of California
• Commander of the Fourth Military Department
• Commander of the Department of the East
• Commander of the Military Division of the South
• Commander of the Division of the Pacific
• Park Commissioner of San Francisco.

He retired from the military in 1882, as a result of Congress's newly implemented mandatory retirement age of 64. He continued to serve as Park Commissioner until his death, in 1885.