The Fourth Alabama Painting by Don Troiani

Unassigned

Twenty-first New York Infantry

COLONEL W F ROGERS
LIEUTENANT COLONEL A R ROOT
MAJOR W H DREW

Company A: CAPT. R P GARDNER
Company B: CAPT. H M GAYLORD
Company C: CAPT. J P WASHBURN
Company D: CAPT. W C ALBERGER
Company E: CAPT. J C STRONG – Assigned to Fort Jackson at the Virginia end of the Long Bridge.
Company F: CAPT. G D W CLINTON
Company G: CAPT. E L LEE
Company H: CAPT. E L HAYWARD
Company I: CAPT. H G THOMAS
Company K: CAPT. J M LAYTON – Assigned to the bastion overlooking the Alexandria road.

Reference

"Two more large bastioned earthworks were thrown up to guard the approaches to the Long Bridge. With a perimeter of 1484 yards, Fort Runyon was established at the northern end of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, while the much smaller Fort Albany, with a perimeter of 429 yards and emplacements for 12 guns, was placed about a mile farther down the Columbia Turnpike."

SOURCE: American Civil War Fortifications (2): Land and Field Fortifications, byRon Field and illustrated by Peter Dennis

"On the 21st of May the regiment received the handsome uniform originally intended for the 74th Regiment, N Y N G. It consisted of cap, jacket and pants of grey cloth, trimmed with black, and an overcoat of a bluish black, lined with red."

Chronicles of the Twenty-first regiment New York state volunteers, embracing a full history of the regiment from the enrolling of the first volunteer in Buffalo, April 15, 1861, to the final mustering out, May 18, 1863. Including a copy of muster out rolls of field and staff, and each company, by J Harrison Mills

"Some time after the regiment arrived at Washington, D C, Col Rogers was ordered to take command of Fort Runyon, which was a little less than a mile south of the Long Bridge. Here the regiment remained until after the first battle of Bull Run."

Biographical sketch of James Clark Strong, by J C Strong

"The fort was named in honor Brigadier General Theodore Runyon, whose New Jersey Brigade helped build the forts. Fort Runyon was the largest fort in the Defenses of Washington, covering twelve acres of land with a perimeter of 1484 yards. It was built on the land of James Roach. Construction of the fort began on the morning of 24 May, 1861, under the supervision of Captain Barton S Alexander and was completed in about seven weeks. Fort Runyon guarded Long Bridge and the important junction of the Washington-Alexandria and Columbia turnpikes."

Mr Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington, New Edition, by Benjamin F Cooling II and Walton H Owen II

Chronicles of the Twenty-first regiment New York State Volunteers, embracing a full history of the regiment, by J Harrison Mills

New York in the War of Rebellion, 1861–1865 (Volume 3), by Frederick Phisterer

NOTE: The 21st New York Infantry was mustered in the service of the United States, at Elmira, for three months, on 20 May, 1861. At the request of the general government, the Governor of the State, on 2 August, 1861, ordered the regiment in the service of the United States for the unexpired portion of its term of State service. The regiment was mustered out at Buffalo, on 18 May, 1863. The 21st New York Infantry was assigned to garrison duty at Fort Runyon, with Company E at Fort Jackson on the Virginia bank of the Long Bridge and Company K at a bastion on the Alexandria Road. The 21st New York Infantry was not with the army in the field on 21 July, 1861. Brigadier General T Runyon commanded all troops not actually sent to the front, some thirteen regiments.

The Military District of the Potomac was established on 25 July, 1861 by consolidating the Military District of Washington and the Department of Northeastern Virginia and redesignated the Department of the Potomac on 15 August, 1861. The 21st New York Infantry was assigned to garrison duty in Fort Runyon, in the Defenses of Washington, D C, Army of the Potomac, on 4 August, 1861.