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.
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.
See more on the history of the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry Regiment in the Civil War.