An Encyclopedia of Early Civil War Virginia
This unit's colorful commander was known for giving bellicose speeches, but his courage was of the liquid variety. The Pocahontas Rescues was a Confederate company raised in May 1861 in what is today Pocahontas County, West Virginia. “Count” Daniel A. Stofer (1821-1891), a boisterous attorney, organized the unit. Fifty-seven men mustered in at Huntersville, a…
The Letcher Guard was a Confederate company raised in May 1861 in what is today Taylor County, West Virginia. It was involved in the Action at Philippi on June 3, 1861 and then became Company A, 9th Battalion, Virginia Infantry (Hansbrough’s) in the Army of the Northwest.
Trick question -- none of the Virginia militia at Philippi on June 3, 1861 had been sworn into Confederate service. Technicalities aside, the issue of what units were involved in the "Philippi Races," among the first land actions of the Civil War, is not just a matter of trivia. Most authors, however, only name units…
The 1st Regiment Georgia Volunteer Infantry was not the only unit to bear that name in the American Civil War, but it was among the first to stand up in service to its state. Raised by Colonel James Newton Ramsey (1821-1870) and mustered into service for a period of one year in March 1861, Ramsey's Georgia infantry played a central role in the opening months of the war in Virginia.
In the past few years, I created multiple page stubs for invading Ohio and Indiana regiments, chiefly because there is more information readily available online for Union regiments. Information on Virginia regiments is harder to come by, especially for those who fought in Northwestern Virginia. When updating casualty information for the Battle of Corrick’s Ford,…
Continue reading ➞ Page Created for the 23rd Virginia Regiment
Lately I've been working on filling out the order of battle for George McClellan's Army of the West, and I added stub pages for nine Ohio regiments from his five brigades. Since McClellan oversaw the Department of Ohio, it makes sense that volunteers from Ohio would make up the bulk of his troops. The State…
There were ten volunteer Indiana infantry regiments that participated in the first three months of the Civil War, and in my latest update I added stub pages for all. These mainly fought in the Union Army of the West, with two exceptions: the 11th and 12th regiments, which were unattached. The 11th operated under the…
Continue reading ➞ Added Stub Pages for Ten Indiana Regiments
The Confederate Army of the Kanawha was formed on June 6, 1861 under the commander of former Virginia governor Henry A. Wise. Its mission was to defend the Kanawha River Valley in what was then western Virginia (today the state of West Virginia). Despite its name, the Army of the Kanawha was never more than…
Robert E. Lee's General Orders Number 24, issued at the Headquarters of Virginia Forces in Richmond on June 1, 1861, sought to clarify Virginia's militia organization as it continued to mobilize throughout the state. A Civil War Era regiment consisted of smaller units called companies raised from the same general geographic area (sometimes several adjacent…
Continue reading ➞ Organization of Virginia Militia Units in June 1861
Spirit of '61 