Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments • Facts • The Armies
The 2nd Rhode Island Infantry trailside marker is on the Matthews Hill Loop Trail which begins at Stop 4 on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.
The 2nd Rhode Island Infantry lost 28 men killed, 56 wounded and 30 missing at First Bull Run. Colonel John Slocum and Major Sullivan Ballou, Captains Levi Tower and Samuel J. Smith were killed, and Lieutenants Stephen Arnold and Henry C. Cook were wounded. Lieutenant Colonel Frank Wheaton took command of the regiment when Colonel Slocum was killed.
Text from the trailside marker:
July 21, 1861
11:00 a.m.
2nd Brigade (Burnside)
Army of Northeastern Virginia, USA
2nd Rhode Island Infantry
“The 2nd was hotly engaged and made so gallant a fight as to push the enemy off the plateau and partly down the hillside. In the cornfield on the slope, and among the woods beyond, they found temporary shelter. But the fire of the 2nd was hot and deadly, and although fresh enemy troops were constantly coming up, our men obstinately held the crest. For nearly an hour did the regiment fight on, singlehandedly.”
-Pvt. Augustus Woodbury
Location of the 2nd Rhode Island Infantry trailside marker
The marker is along the Matthews Hill Loop Trail, which starts at the Matthews Hill parking area on the east side of Sudley Road, Virginia Route 234, about 0.7 mile north of US 29. It is on the part of the trail that runs along the open field closest to the edge of the woods, about 200 yards from the parking area. (38°49’34.9″N 77°31’53.4″W)