08/31/2026
James McBride Allaire was a resident of New Rochelle and a descendant of the Huguenot Allaire family that settled in New Rochelle, NY in the 1680s. Through the centuries, the extended family grew in wealth with an iron works and a shipyard.
James was 34 years old when the Civil War began and he enlisted in New York City on January 1, 1862. He had travelled from New Rochelle in order to enlist in the 5th New York also known as Duryée Zouaves. Before the advent of the federal draft in 1863, recruitment was the responsibility of individual unit commanders. Abram Duryée raised his regiment with an emphasis on height and higher levels of education. He outfitted them in a distinct Zouave uniform modeled after French North African troops.
With their dark blue and red trimmed jackets, red baggy pants, red fez and white gaiters, the 5th looked like figures from Arabian Nights. By the time Allaire enlisted, the unit had already had their first fight at Big Bethel in which six soldiers of the 5th were killed. Allaire’s first experience with combat came at the Battle of Gaines Mills on June 27, 1862. The 5th served mostly in the rear until a concentrated Confederate advance pushed the US Army from the field. They suffered 53 killed, 95 wounded and 14 missing in action. James Allaire was promoted to the rank of Corporal, possibly for his performance at Gaines Mills.
On August 29, 1862, Corporal Allaire and the 5th found themselves on the same ground in Manassas, Virginia that the first battle of the war had been fought. Eager to avenge the loss a year prior and needing to protect Washington DC, General John Pope engaged Lee with numerous assaults on Confederate positions on the heights. After a day of costly attacks, the rebels were still firmly entrenched.
When the fighting began again on the 30th, Pope sent Allaire and the 5th to defend the artillery by staging on a steady sloping hill. Unbeknownst to the US Army, Confederate General Longstreet’s Corps had arrived during the night. He sent General AP Hill’s Texas Brigade to assault the 5th’s position in a surprise flank attack. What followed was the single greatest annihilation of any infantry regiment in the course of the war. In eight minutes, 330 members of the 5th were struck down with 120 killed. Among the dead was Corporal James Allaire. One of Hood’s staff, a fellow Texan, described the hillside as looking like it was in bloom with Texas wildflowers because of the colorful uniforms on the dead soldiers of the 5th.
James Allaire was almost certainly buried on the battlefield and never recovered. Hidden by turf today the top of his headstone in New Rochelle reads “In Memory Of” indicating it is a cenotaph. The headstone which carries the inscription:
In Memory of
James McBride Allaire
Who fell at the Second Battle of Bull Run on the 30th day of August 1862
In defence of the Government, Constitution and Laws of his Country.
Aged 35 Years
Was originally erected in the Allaire family cemetery on Union Avenue. In 1956, in order to make way for I-95, the cemetery was destroyed. Through the work of Trinity Church’s Reverend Phillip M Styles the Huguenot pioneers, their descendants and many Siwanoy converts were reinterred at Trinity Church on Main Street. The headstones that still existed were laid flat in the churchyard of what is now Trinity Saint Paul following a merger in 1987.
