page_title: 1st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment
section_title: First Bull Run Campaign
hierarchical_section_title: 1st Massachusetts Infantry Regiment / First Bull Run Campaign
caption_attribution_description: English: Attack on the batteries at Bull Run by three companies of the First Massachusetts Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Welles, commanding.
context_page_description: The 1st Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War. It was the first regiment to leave Massachusetts for a three-year term in response to President Abraham Lincoln's May 3, 1861 call for three-year regiments. It was also the first three-year regiment from any state to reach Washington, D.C. for federal service. The core of the regiment was five companies from the 1st Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, a peace-time unit which was formed in 1858, replacing an earlier, disbanded unit of the same designation. Five companies of new recruits were added to the regiment and the unit was mustered in by companies beginning May 23, 1861 at Camp Cameron in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  After arriving in Washington, the regiment became part of Major General Irwin McDowell's Army of Northeastern Virginia and saw their first combat during the Battle of Blackburn's Ford. The 1st Massachusetts was engaged during the First Battle of Bull Run. When Union forces surrounding Washington were reorganized, the regiment became part of the Army of the Potomac, with which it was associated for the rest of its term of service.
context_section_description: On July 16, the regiment received orders to march with their brigade into Virginia as Gen. McDowell commenced to move his army to meet the Confederate forces gathered around the important railroad junction at Manassas, Virginia. The regiment crossed the Potomac via the Chain Bridge and marched the next two days until they reached the vicinity of Centreville, Virginia and camped there.
caption: "Attack on the batteries at Bull Run by three companies of the First Massachusetts Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Welles, commanding"
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