5Th West Virginia Infantry
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5th West Virginia Infantry Battle and Service History of the 5th West Virginia Infantry, U.S. Volunteers Service and Battle History of the 5th West Virginia Infantry, U.S. Volunteers, from Frederick Dyer's, A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion. Organized at Ceredo, W. Va., September 2, 1861, and mustered in October 18, 1861. Served Unattached, District of the Kanawha, West Virginia, to March, 1862. District of Cumberland, Md., Mountain Department, to April, 1862. Milroy's Independent Brigade, Mountain Department, to June, 1862. Milroy's Independent Brigade, 1st Army Corps, Army of Virginia, to September, 1862. Defenses of Washington, D. C., to October, 1862. District of the Kanawha, West Virginia, Dept. Ohio, to January, 1863. Unattached, District of the Kanawha, West Virginia, to March, 1863. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 8th Army Corps, Middle Department, to June, 1863. 1st Brigade, Scammon's Division, Dept. of West Virginia, to December, 1863. 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, West Virginia, to April, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, West Virginia, to November, 1864. SERVICE.-Duty at Ceredo and in the Kanawha Valley, W. Va., to December 10, 1861. Moved to Parkersburg, W. Va., December 10, thence to New Creek, W. Va., February, 1862. Linn Creek, Logan County, February 8. Duty at New Creek till May. Joined Milroy's Brigade May 2. Battle of McDowell May 8. Near Franklin May 10-12 and May 26. Battle of Cross Keys June 8. At Strasburg June 20-July 5. Advance to Luray July 5-11. Moved to Sperryville July 11, thence to Woodville July 22, and duty there till August 9. Battle of Cedar Mountain August 9. Cedar Run August 10. Pope's Campaign in Northern Virginia August 16-September 2. Fords of the Rappahannock August 20-23. Freeman's Ford, Hazel River, August 22. Johnson's Ford August 22. Waterloo Bridge August 24-25. Gainesville August 28. Groveton August 29. Bull Run August 30. Duty in the Defenses of Washington, D. C., till September 29. Moved to Beverly, W. Va., September 29-October 9. Parkersburg October 10. Duty at Ceredo till March, 1863. Scouting Little Kanawha and east side of Big Sandy Rivers. Ordered to Wayne Court House March. Hurricane Creek March 28. At Charlestown, Barboursville, Hurricane Bridge and other points in the Kanawha Valley till April, 1864. Scammon's demonstration from the Kanawha Valley December 8-25, 1863. Crook's Raid on the Virginia & Tennessee Railroad May 2-19, 1864. Rocky Gap May 6. Battle of Cloyd's Mountain May 9. New River Bridge May 10. Blacksburg May 10. Union May 12. Meadow Bluff May 24. Hunter's Expedition to Lynchburg May 26-July 1. Lexington June 11-12. Buchanan June 14. Otter Creek June 16. Diamond Hill June 17. Lynchburg June 17-18. Buford's Gap June 19. Salem June 21. Moved to the Shenandoah Valley July 13-15. Kablestown July 19. Battle of Kernstown, Winchester, July 23-24. Martinsburg July 25. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley Campaign August 6-November 1. Strasburg August 15. Summit Point August 24. Halltown August 2. Berryville September 3. Battle of Opequan, Winchester, September 19. Fisher's Hill September 22. Battle of Cedar Creek October 19. Consolidated with 9th West Virginia Infantry November 9, 1864, to form 1st West Virginia Veteran Infantry (which see). Regiment lost during service 4 Officers and 57 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 88 Enlisted men by disease. Total 151. Service and Battle History of the 5th West Virginia Infantry, U.S. Volunteers, from Theodore Lang's Loyal West Virginia, 1861-1865. The Fifth West Virginia Infantry was organized at Ceredo, W. Va., during the summer of 1861, and was mustered into the United States service October 18, 1861, with the following field officer: John L. Zeigler, colonel; Stephen P. Colvin, lieutenant-colonel, and Ralph Ormstead, Major. The regiment was engaged in protecting the loyal citizens of the Kanawha Valley, and ridding it of the Confederates, until ordered to Parkersburg on December 10. A principal part of the regiment was sent to New Creek and in February, 1862, accompanied Colonel Dunning of the Fifth Ohio, commanding brigade, on his expedition to Moorefield, against Colonel Harness of the Confederate army. On the 2d of May, the regiment left New Creek, and went to McDowell, joining the command of General Milroy, and taking part in the battle at that place, and after that battle became a part of General Milroy's brigade. They remained with the brigade all through Pope's campaign, participating in all the battles in which the brigade took a part, from Cedar Mountain to the second battle of Bull Run, both officers and men being conspicuous for their soldierly conduct while in camp and on the march, and for gallantry upon the battlefield. The regiment returned to the Kanawha Valley in October, 1862, and was detached from Milroy's brigade, and in Equestrian Property And Land For Sale Fayette County TN May, 1864, it became a part of General Crook's command, participating in his expeditions. It took a part in General Hunter's advance on Lynchburg, and the battle at that place June 18. Returning, it proceeded with General Hunter's army to the Shenandoah Valley, forming a part of the Army of West Virginia under General Crook in the brigades commanded by Col. I. H. Duval, Ninth W. Va. Infantry, and Col. Rutherford B. Hayes, 23rd Ohio Infantry. Colonel Hayes commanded the brigade for several months, during which time he fought a number of closely contested battles. The survivors of the regiment have cause for congratulation that they had served under a commander who not only illustrated the highest idea of the true soldier while on the field of battle, but when the war was over and the people of the nation had called the commander of the First Brigade, Army of West Virginia, to the Presidential chair, he illustrated the same high idea of American statesmanship in the exalted civil position he had shown on the battlefield. On the 9th of November, 1864, the Fifth and Ninth West Virginia Infantry were consolidated by order of the War Department, and designated the First Regiment West Virginia Veteran Infantry, and were mustered out of service July 21, 1865. The regiment lost during the war, killed and died of wounds four officers and 57 enlisted men; died of disease and accident, two officers and 88 enlisted men. Total, 151. Extracted from the The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies CAMP BUCKNER, October 14, 1861. Adjutant-General COOPER: I have information that General Zeigler has advanced from mouth of Sandy to Louisa, Ky., with 1,500 men. Our friends are assembling at Prestonburg1---4,000 or 5,000, with less than 2,000 home guns- --needing powder, lead, and buckshot; without organization. A general officer needed. A timely move may save that country. F. K. ZOLLICOFFER2, Brigadier-General. (The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Ser. 1, Vol. 4, Chapt. 12, p. 448; hereafter, this source will be referred to as O.R.) 1. Prestonsburg was the site of a Confederate recruiting camp in East Kentucky. The aggregation of Rebels at that location would be the nucleus of the first version of the 5th Kentucky Infantry, and, later, the 10th Kentucky Cavalry (May's-Trimble's-Diamond's), Ben Caudill's 13th Kentucky Cavalry, and at least parts of two Kentucky Mounted Rifle Battalions. 2. Felix Zollicoffer was a Tennessee politician and newspaper editor, originally against the idea of the dissolution of the United States. Events convinced him otherwise and he accepted a commission in the Confederate army. He was killed on January 19th, 1862, at the Battle of Mill Springs, just west of Somerset, Kentucky. COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA, Adjutant-General's Office, Wheeling, November 13, 1861. The undersigned, adjutant of the Ninth Virginia Regiment, a new regiment just forming at Guyandotte, Va., would beg leave respectfully to report that on Sunday evening, the 10th instant, just after 7 o'clock, the said regiment, consisting of only 150 men yet in camp, was completely surprised by 700 cavalry, under command of Jenkins, [Clarkson], the guerrilla chief, and cut to pieces and captured, with the loss also of about 30 horses, a small stock of Government stores, and 200 Enfield rifles. The dead and wounded on either side could not be clearly ascertained, but supposed to be 10 or 12 killed and 20 or 30 wounded. The enemy captured 70 prisoners and their loss in killed and wounded was equal to if not greater than ours. They left one of their captains dead on the street. His name was Hubbell, or a name similar in sound. Three other dead bodies were found in the street, and they were seen to throw several from the Suspension Bridge into the Guyandotte River, killed by our men while they were crossing the bridge; besides, a wagon load was hauled off in the night. Three of our dead were found. One was known to have been shot 1 mile above town, on the bank of the Ohio River, and 4 in crossing. Several others are missing and supposed to be killed. Among the number is Capt. G. B. Bailey, of Portsmouth, Ohio, who commanded a company under Colonel McCook at Vienna and Bull Run, and was to have been the lieutenant-colonel of this regiment. I have since learned that his body was found in the river near the mouth of the Guyandotte.