Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • Facts • The Armies
The 1st Massachusetts Infantry trailside marker is along the Unfinished Railroad, reached from Stop 6 on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.
Text from the marker:
August 29, 1862
3:00 p.m.
1st Brigade (Grover), Second Division (Hooker)
Third Corps (Heintzelman),
Army of the Potomac, USA
1st Massachusetts Infantry
Col. Robert Godwin [sic- see note]
“Without artillery and without supports, our men advanced. We reached a railroad bank when from the rear of the embankment arose the enemy. They poured a tremendous volley into our lines. The effect was terrible. Men dropped in scores, writhing and trying to crawl back, or lying stone-dead where they fell. The Union line began to waver and sullenly fell back into the forest again.”
– Chaplain Warren Cudworth
USA Second Battle of Manassas
Note: The colonel’s last name was Cowdin, not Godwin as on the marker.
Location of the 1st Massachusetts Infantry trailside marker
The marker is at Stop Six of the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour. It is on the Unfinished Railroad Loop Trail about 100 yards northeast of the parking area. (38°49’34.9″N 77°32’53.4″W)