Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • Facts • The Armies
The Outnumbered: The Stand in Robinson Lane wayside marker is on the Henry Hill walking tour, which starts at the Manassas National Battlefield Visitor Center.
Note: The marker has been updated. The text of both versions is shown for historical reference.
Text from the current wayside marker:
Outnumbered:
The Stand in Robinson Lane
Colonel Wade Hampton’s infantry occupied the Warrenton Turnpike in front of the Robinson farm as the Confederate position on Matthews Hill collapsed. Having arrived at Manassas Junction earlier that morning after a 30-hour train ride from Richmond, the 600 exhausted South Carolinians stood as the only organized Confederate resistance then on the field.
Realizing his men could not hold the turnpike, Hampton pulled his troops back here to the Robinson farm lane. Slowly, with repeated volleys of musketry, the Federals forced Hampton’s men to yield ground and fall back toward the woods. The Confederate army seemed on the brink of defeat.
First Battle of Manassas
July 21, 1861 12:00 p.m.
Text from the original wayside marker:
Outnumbered:
The Stand in Robinson Lane
Shot-up Confederate regiments stumbled past, in retreat from Matthews Hill. First along Warrenton Pike, then in Robinson’s Lane, Col. Wade Hampton’s South Carolinians tried to delay the Union advance. Slowly, with volley after volley of musket fire, the Union wave forced Hampton’s Legion back past Robinson House toward the pine woods. At this point the Confederate Army seems on the brink of defeat.
First
Battle of Manassas
Caption to the drawing on the right:
You are standing at the historic farm lane and fence line. On this battlefield there was no time to build earthworks. Soldiers used every wrinkle of terrain for protection—firing prone from the road cut, or behind field stones and fence rails.
Caption to the photo at the bottom:
South Carolina planter Wade Hampton organized this famous legion. His 600 infantry arrived by train from Richmond only hours before the battle.
Location of the marker:
The marker is on the Henry Hill Loop Trail. It is about 1/2 mile from the Henry Hill Visitor Center, slightly longer going clockwise. (38°49’09.5″N 77°31’10.7″W)