Grover’s Attack wayside marker

Battles of Manassas • Tour the Battlefield •  Monuments • Facts • The Armies

The “Grover’s Attack” wayside marker is along the Unfinished Railroad, reached from Stop 6 on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.

The Grover's Attack wayside marker is along the Unfinished Railroad, reached from Stop 6 on the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour.

Text from the wayside marker:

Grover’s Attack

Union Bayonet Charge

Grover’s troops waited for the Rebels to fire, then charged up the ten-foot embankment. With no time to reload, Confederates were caught hugging the rear slope. The charging Federals stabbed with bayonets, crushed skulls with musket butts, and broke through the next line of defenders.

Their success was almost suicidal; no one reinforced Grover’s advance. As Georgians and South Carolinians rushed to close the gap, the isolated Federals had to fall back over the ground they had won, back through a lethal crossfire. In twenty minutes General Grover lost 487 men – a third of his command.

Second
Battle of Manassas
Day 2
August 29, 1862

Caption to the photo at the bottom:

Brig. Gen. Cuvier Grover. His charge was the closest the Federals came to success on the 29th. All afternoon their assaults on the Unfinished Railroad were uncoordinated.

Location of the “Unfinished Railroad” trailside marker

The marker is at Stop Six of the Manassas Battlefield Driving Tour. It is on the Unfinished Railroad Loop Trail about 0.4 mile northeast of the parking area. (38°49’47.3″N 77°32’36.5″W)