eight o'clock
As a matter of fact the President was consumed with painful anxiety lest there should not be harmonious action if Johnston should reach the field in time for the fight . His own presence was required by law at Richmond on July 20 , for the delivery of his message to the assembled Congress . It was impossible for him to leave for the front before Sunday morning the 21st . The battle began at eight o'clock . General McDowell 's army had moved to this attack hounded by the clamor of demagogues for the immediate capture of Richmond by his `` Grand Army . '' Every Northern newspaper had dinned into his ears and the ears of an impatient public but one cry for months : `` On to Richmond ! '' At last the news was spread in Washington that the army would move and bivouac in Richmond 's public square within ten days .