Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • Facts • The Armies
The 71st New York State Militia has both a trailside marker and a wayside marker on the Matthews Hill Loop Trail which begins at Stop 4 on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.
71st New York State Militia trailside marker
From the trailside marker:
July 21, 1861
11:00 a.m.
2nd Brigade (Burnside), 2nd Division (Hunter)
Army of Northeastern Virginia, USA
Col. Henry P. Martin
“The Alabama 4th, which had long ago expressed, in print, their desire to meet the New York 71st, deployed from a wood. The 71st, recognizing them, answered the challenge with a shout, and, springing forward, delivered a volley of musketry. They then charged down the hill upon them with tremendous vigor, intending to take them with the bayonet. But the Alabamians did not like the war-whoop, nor its prologue, so after a volley and a short pause, they took back to cover, leaving their dead on the field.”
-Augustus T. Francis
Regimental Historian
USA First Battle of Manassas
71st New York State Militia wayside marker
The Seventy-First Regiment of Infantry New York State Militia
Colonel Henry P. Martin Commanding
From this position the 71st assisted in driving the Confederate forces back towards Henry Hill. The regiment remained in this area for most of the battle and afterward covered the retreat of the Union Army from the field. The unit suffered 10 killed, 40 wounded and 12 missing.
Donated by the Veteran Association of the Seventy-First Regiment, National Guard of the State of New York
From the caption to the upper left photo:
Colonel Henry P. Martin
From the caption to the upper right photo:
Sergeant James T. Woolsey of Company G wearing the 1861 regimental campaign uniform.
From the caption to the lower left photo:
Members of the regiment posing at the Washington D.C. Navy Yard prior to the Battle of Bull Run.
From the caption to the lower right photo:
In 1869 the regiment’s veterans association was formed. a group of them is shown here visiting the Bull Run battlefield in 1888.
