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Mystery Photo: Is this the 7th W. Va.? Click here to see.
Introduction: This site is dedicated to collecting and disseminating information about the 7th West Virginia Infantry and the men who served in it during the Civil War. Although some obscurity will always surround the regiment and its soldiers, more and more information is coming to light. Those who have material to share or questions they would like answered are urged to e-mail Dave Mellott. Photographs and historical documents such as letters, diaries and pension records would prove valuable additions to the written history of the unit which is currently in progress and soon to be published.
Quick facts about the 7th West Virginia Infantry.
NEW! An exciting new article about the 7th West Virginia's crucial role in the Battle of Antietam has recently been published. Entitled "A Dear Bought Name: The 7th West Virginia Infantry's Assault on Bloody Lane," the piece appears in the latest issue of Civil War Regiments. Published quarterly by Savas Publishing Company, Civil War Regiments is a fine scholarly journal of the American Civil War produced under the managing editorship of Mark Snell, Director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War at Shepherd College in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. To feel what it was like to march with the 7th West Virginia into the flaming inferno at Bloody Lane, order a copy of the Antietam issue of Civil War Regiments, Vol. Five, No. 3, from the publisher, toll free, at 1-800-848-6585.
Brief History: The 7th West Virginia Infantry has been called that state's banner regiment. Nicknamed the "Bloody Seventh," it fought in more battles and suffered more losses than any other regiment from West Virginia during the Civil War. Largely ignored by history, this tough band of mainly farmers compiled a long combat record that compares favorably with the more renowned regiments of the war.
Through
the help of recruiting posters like this one (now on display at the museum
of the West Virginia Division of Culture and History in Charleston, West
Virginia) the 7th West Virginia was organized by Col.
James Evans, a Morgantown politician,
during the summer and fall of 1861. Most of the recruits were northwestern
Virginians who supported the federal government, but there were also significant
numbers of enlistments from nearby Ohio and Pennsylvania desirous of helping
their loyal Virginia neighbors prevent the establishment of a sovereign
Confederate nation on their doorstep.
The 7th West Virginia's early service was limited to the backwaters of the war. Portions of the regiment took part in several police actions to put down local unrest caused by conflicting political sympathies in the border region which eventually became part of northern West Virginia. One such action resulted in the gunning down of the notorious Zach Cochran, a Confederate sympathizer and former Sheriff of Taylor County. During this period, the 7th West Virginia was also part of the force assigned to protect the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and participated in skirmishes at Romney, West Virginia on October 26, 1861 and Bloomery Gap, West Virginia on February 14, 1862, both aimed at driving the Confederates away from that important east-west artery.
April of 1862 found the 7th West Virginia moving up the Shenandoah Valley as part of Shields' Division in search of the elusive Stonewall Jackson. After Jackson no longer appeared to be a threat, Shields' Division was transferred to McDowell's command at Fredericksburg as part of the buildup for the advance on Richmond. Suddenly Jackson re-appeared, striking with fury and driving the federals still in the Valley all the way back across the Potomac River. The 7th West Virginia swiftly countermarched to the Valley and again found themselves pursuing the wily Confederate commander. A portion of Shields' men finally caught up with Jackson, but were repulsed near Port Republic.
With Jackson's classic Valley Campaign at an end, Shields' Division was broken up, and the 7th West Virginia was transferred to McClellan on the Peninsula. As part of Kimball's Brigade, the regiment arrived by steamer at Harrison's Landing in early July, 1862 just after Malvern Hill had concluded the Seven Days' fighting. Moving to the front shortly after touching shore, Kimball's men skirmished with J. E. B. Stuart's horse artillery on Evlington Heights from where the Confederate cavalry commander had imprudently shelled McClellan's huddled army. Sweltering from the heat and plagued by clouds of flies, many sickened during the 7th West Virginia's stay on the Peninsula before McClellan withdrew his idle army from the unhealthy setting.
In August, 1862, Kimball's Brigade steamed northward to the Washington defenses and arrived in time to again advance to the front and help cover Pope's defeated army as it retreated from the licking it had received at Second Bull Run.
Over the course of the rest of the war the 7th West Virginia fought as part of the highly regarded Second Corps of the Army of the Potomac and saw action in every major engagement of the Eastern Theatre, including Antietam (where Kimball's Brigade battled the Confederates at Bloody Lane, resulting in the regiment's highest casualties of the war), Fredericksburg (where Kimball's Brigade led the Union assault on the stone wall at the foot of Marye's Heights), Chancellorsville (where the countercharge by a portion of Kimball's former brigade, now Carroll's, in which the 7th West Virginia took part, helped delay the Confederate advance on the Chancellor House crossroads) and Gettysburg (where the countercharge of Carroll's Brigade on the second day helped save the Union guns on East Cemetery Hill). The regiment was in the thick of the fighting in each of these battles and acquitted itself with distinction.
Combat, hardship and disease took their toll. In early September, 1863, the regiment had sustained such losses that the skeletal remnants were consolidated into a battalion, the supernumerary officers being mustered out. Yet despite their exposures and suffering, a majority of the men re-enlisted for another three years when early January, 1864 arrived.
After
returning from their veteran furloughs in the spring of 1864 flush
with more than 100
new recruits, the men of the 7th West Virginia Battalion marched and fought
with U. S. Grant in the Overland Campaign against Lee at the Battles
of the Wilderness,
Spotsylvania and Cold Harbor.
They went on
to participate in the fighting surrounding the investment of
Petersburg,
including the disaster at Ream's Station on August 25, 1864. Despite
this defeat, the men of the 7th West Virginia, reputed as crack shots, were
rewarded with the coveted sixteen-shot, lever-action Henry repeating rifle,
the precursor of the Winchester. This was a rare honor, since no more
than 1,731 of the prized repeaters were purchased by the federal government
during the war.
After Lee's surrender at Appomattox, the 7th West Virginia marched in the Grand Review in Washington and was finally mustered out of service in early July, 1865. The veterans of the 7th West Virginia wore the pictured badge (click photo) to their post-war reunions.
Kimball's / Carroll's Virtual Brigade:
*** 4th Ohio
8th Ohio
14th Indiana
More about specific 7th West Virginia soldiers:
Berger, George ("when drunk
always rong")
Comer, Patrick (wants mule for
family)
Distler, John George, Lt.
(post-war picture)
Frazer, George ("Kiss my ass")
Lamberson, William (photo -
missing finger)
Lappin, Wellington ("Holy Jesus
I'll shoot you")
Those interested in learning more about West Virginia Civil War history should visit these hyper hot sites:
7th West Virginia Cavalry
BerryLink Military Records
The George Tyler Moore Center
for the Study of the
Civil War
West Virginia
Military
Research
Commercial Links:
Ken Turner's Civil War
Homepage
The Valley Campaign Civil War Shop
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Copyright 1996, 1997. David W. Mellott. All rights reserved.
This site was born October 6, 1996. Last updated August 17, 1997.