Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • The Armies
The monument to Confederate Brigadier General Francis S. Bartow is on Henry Hill near the Visitor Center (see map below).
The monument to Confederate Brigadier General Francis S. Bartow. The monument to “Stonewall” Jackson is in the distance.
About Francis Stebbins Bartow
Bartow was born in Savannah in 1816. He graduated from the University of Georgia and attanded Yale University Law School, becoming an attorney in 1837. Barlow owned a plantation in Chatham County and was one of the largest slaveowners in Georgia. He also served in the Georgia House of Representatives and the State Senate. In 1844 he married Louisa Berrien. A bid for United States Representative in 1856 was unsuccessful. In 1857 Bartow was elected Captain of the Oglethorpe Light Infantry.
In January of 1861 Bartow was a delegate to the secession convention, where he advocated immediate withdrawal from the United States. He was then elected to the Provisional Confederate Congress in Montgomery. He worked unsuccessfully to get Howell Cobb elected as President of the Confederacy. As chairman of the Military Committee he was responsible for chosing grey as the color for Confederate Uniforms.
When fighting broke out in April Bartow took his company to Richmond. They became part of the 8th Georgia Infantry Regiment, and Bartow was elected Colonel. The regiment was ordered to Winchester and became part of General Joseph E. Johnson’s Army of the Shenandoah. In July he was given command of a brigade consisting of the 7th, 8th and 9th Georgia Infantry Regiments and two battalions of Kentucky Infantry. Bartow commanded the brigade as senior colonel; there is no evidence that he was promoted to Brigadier General while he was alive.
Bartow at the Battle of Manassas
On the eve of the battle Bartow’s brigade was ordered to Manassas. There was only room on the trains for the 7th & 8th Georgia; the rest of the brigade would be left behind at Piedmont Station. Bartow’s men arrived early in the morning of the 21st and marched to Henry Hill, where they took position next to Bee’s Brigade. When Bee advanced to support Evan’s Brigade on Matthew Hill Bartow brought his two regiments forward to support Bee’s right flank. It was an exposed position and during the day over half of Bartow’s men became casualties. They were forced to fall back to their original position on Henry Hill. When General Beauregard passed through the position Bartow asked him what should be done. Beauregard responded that a troublesome Union battery should be silenced.
Bartow called the survivors of the 7th Georgia together and led the attack. His horse was shot out from under him and he was lightly wounded. He commandeered another horse, seized the regimental colors and continued forward, cheering “Boys, follow me!” Then he was hit in the chest. As some of his men gathered around he told them, “Boys, they have killed me, but never give up the field.” He was carried to the rear, but the surgeons were not able to save him. But the attack was successful; the Union battery was destroyed. After the battle the Confederate Congress confirmed Bartow’s promotion to Brigadier General. He was the first Confederate Brigade commander to die in battle.
History of the monument
When Francis S. Bartow died at the Battle of Manassas he became one of the South’s earliest martyrs. Six weeks after the battle his men erected a marble obelisk in his memory, inscribed with his last words. But when Union troops occupied the area the next spring the obelisk was smashed into fragments as mementos. The rounded stub of the its remnants is at the base of a tree that now overhangs the present monument.
The current monument to General Bartow was erected in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration and the Georgia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Text from the monument
Brigadier General
Francis Stebbings Bartow
Born Savannah Georgia, Sept. 16, 1816
Mortally wounded on this spot
July 21, 1861
Commanded 7th, 8th, 9th, & 11th Georgia &
1st Kentucky Regiments.
The first Confederate officer
to give his life on this field.
W.P.A. 1935 (Ga. Div) U.D.C.
Location of the monument
The monument to Confederate Brigadier General Francis S. Bartow is on Henry Hill about 160 yards northeast of the Visitor Center. From the northeast side of the building head 110 yards to the Monument to Stonewall Jackson, then head 50 yards due north to the Bartow moument, which is under a tree. (38°48’51.7″N 77°31’14.5″W)