2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment, Company D

April 18, 1861 - The Berkeley Border Guards reported to Harpers Ferry, VA (now West Virginia) under command of Captain John Q.A. Nadenbousch. 

May 11-13, 1861 - The Berkeley Border Guards became Company "D" of the 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment, under the overall command of Colonel James Allen.  Company D's muster roll showed 26 different occupational titles, as well as the father of Belle Boyd, Benjamin Reed Boyd, a merchant from Martinsburg, VA.
	
Late May 1861 - For two weeks, the 2nd VA performed outpost duty and ford guarding duty from Shepherdstown to Williamsport, then returned to Harpers Ferry.

June 14, 1861 - General Joseph Johnston evacuates Harpers Ferry.  2nd VA marched to Shepherdstown, burned the bridge over the Potomac River and then proceeded to Bull Skin Creek, four miles south of Charles Town.  For the next two weeks, Jackson marched the 2nd VA up and down the Shenandoah Valley between Winchester and Martinsburg changing camp 7 times in 17 days.  

July 2, 1861 - Union MG Patterson crossed the Potomac River.  the 2nd VA marched to Hainesville, loaded their weapons and formed battle line to the right of Jackson's line.  The 2nd never fired a weapon, but upon the regiment's retiring, the Federals confiscated the 2nd Virginia's brand new tents, much to the displeasure and disgust of the regiment.  The 2nd camped at Darkesville for four days returning to Winchester on July 11 to make preparations for a battle with Patterson.

July 18, 1861 - After hearing news of some activity at Manassas Junction, 10 soldiers deserted the 2nd VA (eight from Company E).  The regiment marched to the Blue Ridge Mountains thru Frederick and Clarke Counties.  They crossed the Shenandoah River at Berry's Ferry.  The chest high water caused much caution among the soldiers as they attempted to cross the river.  However, when the 33rd VA marched right on through, most of the 2nd's soldiers felt shame and embarrassment.  They proceeded through Ashby's Gap to Paris and then Piedmont on the night of the 18th.

July 19, 1861 - The Regiment boarded the train at Piedmont and arrived at Mitchell's Ford on Bull Run and bivouacked there.

July 21, 1861 - The Regiment first arrayed for battle at Blackford's Ford, then marched about  four miles to the Henry House and formed in line of battle with the remainder of the brigade.  The Regiment's Colonel, James Allen, had one bad eye from which he could not see.  At one point during the battle a bullet or shell from the enemy forced a limb from a pine tree above his head to fall .  The tree  limb fell struck him in his good eye, thus blinding him for the remainder of the battle.  The Regiment became somewhat disorganized, but managed to redeem itself during the fight on Henry House Hill.  The entire brigade became immortalized with General Jackson and the brigade as the "Stonewall Brigade".   The Regiment bivouacked on the battlefield until August 2 when they moved to Camp Harman one mile east of Centreville.

Casualties for Company D at Manassas were as follows:
			
KIA	4	
MWIA	0	
WDED	10	
POW	0	

The total casualties for the 2nd Virginia are as follows:

KIA	15	
MWIA	8	
WDED	53	
POW	0	
Total	76	

August 1861- October 1861 - These three months consisted of camp life, picket duty, and morning, afternoon, and evening drill.  In mid September transferred their base of operations from Centreville to Fairfax Court House.  From this camp they picketed for eight days near Falls Church, picketed for five days at Braddock Ford on Accotink Creek, and then performed picket and guard duty on the Little River Turnpike near Germantown.  On October 16 they returned to Centreville for three weeks.

November 8, 1861 - The Regiment boarded the train at Manassas to return to the Shenandoah Valley.

November 9, 1861 - The Regiment arrived in Strasburg, VA and marched in the mud to Winchester.  They camped at Camp Stephenson, north of Winchester during November and December.

December 17, 1861 - General Jackson ordered the Regiment to destroy Dam #5 on the Potomac River.  Captain Colston of Company E took over and for the next four and a half nights the 2nd VA worked through the icy waters and annoying Federal artillery to destroy the dam.  The Regiment returned to Camp Stephenson on December 22 and the soldiers enjoyed a subdued and peaceful Christmas.

January 1 - 25, 1862 - Expedition to Bath (Berkeley Springs) and Romney.  The 2nd battled wretched weather, sleet, snow, rain, etc.  The Bath Resort Hotel's banquet hall caught fire providing much needed warmth.  Five inches of snow buried the soldiers while sleeping in a field near Hancock.  Threatened the Federals at Hancock.  

January 25 - March 10, 1862 - The Regiment returned to Winchester, VA.  Prepared winter quarters at the Old Smithfield House situated northeast of Winchester and called it Camp Zollicoffer.  Most soldiers obtained furloughs to visit family in the Valley.  The Regiment watched the execution of a military cavalryman from Jefferson County.  Lawson Botts, of the 2nd VA, was the acting Provost marshal administering the execution.  An entire company of cavalry was created by members of the 2nd VA Infantry who had enough of the infantry.  

March 11, 1862 - General Jackson marched his troops south to Mount Jackson as Major General Shields shadowed him to Strasburg, VA.  Stayed in this area until March 21.  

March 21, 1862 - Intelligence showed that the Yankees had evacuated Strasburg causing Jackson some concern because he needed to keep the Yankees in the Valley so as not to unite with the Federals thus outnumbering Joe Johnston's Army.  

March 22, 1862 - At dawn the Confederates started moving north and covered 25 miles to Cedar Creek where they bivouacked.

March 23, 1862 - Companies D, H, and I had been detached as infantry support to Turner Ashby's cavalry and horse artillery a few days prior.  Captain Nadenbousch of Company D was in command of the detachment.  Early on the morning of the 23, Ashby ordered Captain Nadenbousch and his detachment to the aid of Captain R. Preston Chew's horse artillery.  Federal skirmishers had found the range on Chew's three guns just north of Kernstown.  Captain Nadenbousch deployed his skirmishers and advanced to the woods concealing the Federal skirmishers.  A quick volley ensued scattering the Federal skirmishers.  More Federal soldiers in heavy columns soon arrived forcing Ashby to order Nadenbousch to fall back to the Valley Turnpike (Present day Route 11) and await further orders.

Meanwhile, the remaining Confederates broke camp early on the 23 at Cedar Creek and marched 14 miles north to Kernstown.  Arriving around 2:00 pm, the Confederates heard massive firing and knew the fight was brewing.   Jackson thought he faced a rear guard Federal force, not realizing it was stronger than his.  The 2nd VA was posted on the extreme right of Jackson's line of the Stonewall Brigade in front of the stone wall held by the Federals.  The 2nd VA's flag was a primary Yankee target throughout the day as the flag had fourteen discernible bullet holes and the staff had been shot in two.  at 6:00 pm, the Regiment received the order to retire after almost four hours of rigorous fighting.

Company D battle losses at Kernstown:

KIA	0	
MWIA	0	
WDED	1	
POW	3	

2nd VA battle losses at Kernstown

KIA	3	
MWIA	2	
WDED	8	
POW	34	
TOTAL	47	
			
March 23, 1862 - The Regiment retreated south to Rude's Hill.  The Army stayed here until the third week of April.  During this small respite, the company commanders embarked upon a full scale recruiting campaign to fill their depleted ranks.  

April 16, 1862 - Meanwhile, the Conscription Act was passed by the Confederate Congress.  Thus, the 2nd VA's muster rolls were strengthened with recruits from Augusta and Shenandoah Counties.  The Regiment suffered some desertion with the new conscripts.  Nonetheless, they added a total of 274 fresh bodies (208 through enlistment, 66 through draft).  Many veterans over 35 were allowed to quit under the new Conscription Act. 

April 20, 1862 - Officer elections.

April 21 - May 23, 1862 - 2nd VA participates in massive field maneuvers conducted by Jackson throughout the Shenandoah Valley.  No combat during these maneuvers.

May 24, 1862 - The Stonewall Brigade led Jackson's soldiers into Winchester, VA to complete the rout of Federal defenders holding the city.  The Federals had confusedly scurried to Winchester, leaving a trail of arms.  Federal ambushes during the night of the 24th slowed the Stonewall Brigade's advance and continual night skirmishing with the enemy.  

May 25, 1862 - Regiment enters outskirts of Winchester and finds the Federals in force on the higher ridges southwest of Winchester.  Jackson orders the Stonewall Brigade to form line of battle and seize the heights.  The 2nd formed in the middle of the Brigade and stormed the heights scattering the Federals.  The advance halted when Federal artillery started crashing among the Brigade and Regiment and lasted for almost two hours.  The 2nd VA participated in another repulse of the Federals in town and followed them closely, pursuing them down Main Street.  The Regiment had 3 dead and 13 wounded, all at the heights southwest of town.  Continued chasing the Feds five miles north of Winchester.  

May 28, 1862 - Jackson ordered the Stonewall Brigade to march from Winchester to Charles Town as a “demonstration toward the Potomac”.  The 2nd remained in Winchester on Provost Duty until the 29th when it rejoined the Brigade near Charles Town and marched to Loudoun Heights to demonstrate against the Federals on Bolivar Heghts.  

May 31, 1862 - The Regiment received a message that Shields and Fremont were concentrating in Jackson’s rear.  Jackson started south up the Valley Pike not waiting for his old Brigade.  They were forced to fend for themselves in the attempt to meet Jackson and the rest in Strasburg.  The rains began and the 2nd had to cross a swelling Shenandoah River at Keys Ferry and were aided by Munford’s 2nd VA Cavalry.  At 10 pm on the night of May 31 the Brigade and the 2nd bivouacked at Newtown.  The 2nd had marched through mud, rain and river crossings for 36 miles in 14 hours on empty stomachs.    This was not without losses.  18 stragglers were picked up by Federals and 12 deserted..  The Brigade and the 2nd joined Jackson on June 1.

June 2 - 6, 1862 - Marched and bivouacked around Harrisonburg, VA.

June 7, 1862 - Marched east toward Cross Keys and Port Republic.  The 2nd encamped at Port Republic while the battle of Cross Keys was fought on June 8.

June 8, 1862 - Company I was guarding Jackson’s supply trains at Port Republic and Federal cavalry had seized a crucial bridge.  Colonel Allen ordered the resting 2nd into marching order and they beat back the Federal cavalry.  

June 9, 1862 - 3:45 am - Reveille.  Marched into Port Republic again.  They were to measure the strength of Shield’s army and to settle the account from Kernstown.  Companies D and I were sent out as skirmishers when they encountered Federal pickets.  The march continued shortly when a hail storm of shot and shell found its mark.  The 2nd was ordered along with the 4th VA to flank the battery on the Federal left.  3 regiments of Yankees protected the battery.  Allen called for reinforcements and ordered the companies to the left of the Regiment to take deliberate aim and fire at the gunners.  The surprised Federal gunners angrily replied with canister in quick successive shots that threw Allen’s forces into confusion.  After a long wait, General Richard Taylor and his Louisiana Brigade came to the rescue taking position to the right of the 2nd and in position to flank the Federal battery.  One killed and 25 wounded.

June 17 - June 25, 1862 - Movement toward Richmond arriving at Ashland 12 miles north of the nation’s capital.

June 26, 1862 - The regiment bivouacked at Hundley’s Corner.

June 27, 1862 - 5:00 am - Began a slow and tedious march south and east towards Gaines Mill and Cold Harbor.  The 2nd rested with the Stonewall Brigade in reserve in an open field near Old Cold Harbor as Rebels under Jackson, Ewell, and D.H. Hill assaulted the Federal right at McGehees Hill.  At 5 pm the Stonewall Brigade was ordered into action.  The 2nd VA and the 5th VA were detached to support Purcell’s Battery.  At 5:30 pm, the two detached regiments rejoined the Brigade and moved towards its objective - McGehees Hill.  The 2nd and 5th became detached from the Brigade in the excitement of the attack.  Enemy batteries took its toll on the two exposed regiments.  As the regiment reached the crest of the hill its strength stood at 80 men.  Colonel Allen was killed instantly with a bullet to the brain while rallying for a final charge.  Major Frank Jones received a mortal wound.  

June 28-30, 1862 - Regiment remained at McGehee’s Hill removing the dead and wounded and repairing Grapevine Bridge.  During the night of the 29th, the Regiment crossed the Chickahominy past Savage Station and bivouacked near White Oak Swamp at noon on the 30th.  

July 1, 1862- Pursuit of the Federals to Fraziers Farm and onto Malvern Hill.  The 2nd held in reserve at Willis Methodist Church about a mile and a half to the rear.  Orders were received at 6:30 pm to march along the Willis Church Road to support D.H. Hill’s attacks on the Federal center.  The 2nd futilely carried out this order.  The onset of darkness thick swamp undergrowth entangled the 2nd and 5th movements that they lost the Brigade when they finally reached the road, which was choked  with retreating infantry and artillery.  Colonel Botts and Colonel Baylor of the 5th were determined to locate the Brigade but only managed to stumble into an open field facing Malvern Hill, whereupon Yankee gunners bombarded them.  The 2nd and 5th sought shelter in a ravine 150 yards to the right of the Willis Church Road.  The lost Regiments finally rejoined the Brigade 2 miles from the front at 6 am on July 2.   The recent battles had produced 6 men dead and 21 wounded (four mortally).  

July 2, 1862 - McClellan retreats to Harrison’s Landing.  

July 2 - 9, 1862 - In and around the Chickahominy River.  Not much activity.

July 10, 1862 - Moved towards Richmond.
											
July 10-14, 1862 - Encamped around Richmond.
 
July 14, 1862 - Started march from Richmond to Gordonsville.

July 19 - August 7, 1862 - Arrived Gordonsville.  Carefully observing Pope's Army.

August 7, 1862 - Jackson crossed the Rapidan at Barnett's Ford and moved north in the direction of Culpepper.

August 9, 1862 - Jackson and Banks met about 8 miles south of Culpepper, around Slaughter's Mountain.  At 5:00 pm, the 2nd deployed in line of battle with the Brigade facing north across a wide open field.  The 2nd was posted on the left, moved forward to a tree line to within 400 yards of oncoming Federals, fired upon them, and then charged.  This movement started to turn the Federal right flank.  The 2nd pursued the Federals until they countercharged.  Darkness arrived ending the day's fighting.  

August 10, 1862 - The 2nd remained on the battlefield.  

August 11, 1862 - The 2nd withdrew to Orange Court House.  

August 12-23, 1862 - Continued to observe the federal troops in and around Orange Court House.

August 24, 1862 - Ordered to cook three day's rations and be ready to move at anytime. 

August 25, 1862 - Marched 26 miles to Salem, VA.  

August 26, 1862 - Marched east toward Thoroughfare Gap and Manassas Junction. 
Shortly of sunset, Jackson neared Bristoe Station on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad.  The Second Virginia was placed in advance of the army.  After crossing a small stream near the station, the Second encountered a large force of Union cavalry; but after a brief skirmish, the Federals fled.  Bristoe Station belonged to Stonewall.
Evening, Jackson reported to Lee that his command “was now in the rear of General Pope’s Army.”  Pope’s flank had been turned, his communications sliced, and his rear endangered. . . 

August 27, 1862 - Jackson seized Pope’s supply depot at Manassas Junction and ordered that the captured booty be distributed to the troops.   

August 28, 1862 - Pope, well aware of the Confederate threat to his hindquarters, started withdrawing his scattered forces northward.  Jackson responded quickly, first by torching all remaining Federal supplies at Manassas Junction and then by maneuvering his 20,000 men northward also.  Old Jack finally settled his veterans on commanding ground at the base of Sudley Mountain.  Jackson rested in this new position - just north of Warrenton Turnpike and three-quarters of a mile west of Groveton - and waited patiently for the arrival of Longstreet and the remainder of Lee’s army.

	“To arms!” resounded urgently through Jackson’s resting army.  Stonewall had spied a Federal column approaching along the Warrenton Turnpike and promptly had determined to attack it.  At about 4 p.m., Old Jack directed his forces to advance through a woods until they reached a commanding position near Brawner’s house.  The Stonewall Brigade subsequently formed near Jackson’s right, facing an open field and peering silently south toward the Turnpike.  Deployed and coiled to strike, Jackson waited - waited for the most opportune moment to pounce on the unsuspecting Federals.  A long hour passed.  The Second Virginia stood patiently on the left of its Brigade, bu some of its men found the wait unsettling.

	Thoughts of battle turned into reality about 5 p.m. when Jackson advanced his men into the open field.  Seconds later the Confederates were firing toward the Warrenton Turnpike and shredding the exposed flank of Rufus King’s division.  Stonewall’s initial sting stunned the surprised Federals, but the men in blue quickly recovered and responded to the Rebel attackers with “a most terrific and deadly fire.”  For the next four hours, the two opponents squared off in the open field and engaged in a stand-up, knock-‘em-down fight that Jackson described as “fierce and sanguinary.”  Not until 9 p.m. on the evening of the 28th did the slaughter at Brawner’s farm mercifully end.  The Federals finally withdrew, but the four-hour bloodbath had produced devastating Confederate losses.  The Stonewall Brigade suffered at Brawner’s farm and “ever afterwards was weak in numbers.”  The August 28 duel had produced at least 39 casualties (eight killed, 31 wounded - seven mortally) to the Second Virginia.

	The Brawner farm shootout not only had decimated the ranks of the Second Virginia, but it also had wrecked the regiment’s officer corps.  Colonel Lawson Botts had received a ghastly wound.  A speeding minie had knocked him off his horse, the deadly ball having penetrating the colonel’s cheek and then exited behind his ear.  The feeble Botts survived this initial injury, but died on September 16 from secondary hemorrhage.  The regiment’s company commanders had fared better than its commander, but a groin wound had sidelined Company D’s Nadenbousch and Moore of Company I needed time to nurse his wounded thigh.  The resignation of Company B’s Captain Lee Moler (on August 15, 1862) and John Rowan’s self-removal (due to the painful recurrence of a foot injury received at First Manassas) had weakened further the regiment’s command structure.

August 29, 1862 - The Second Virginia had no field officers and lacked four of its company commanders.  There was not time to fret over losses, however, and no time to fill vacancies.  The Second Manassas fight was not over, and as the Second Infantry prepared for action, Raleigh Colston controlled the helm of a regiment whose numbers had dwindled to fewer than 100.

	The second day of Second Manassas proved relatively uneventful.  Most of the hard fighting of the 29th focused on the Confederate left.  With the exception of the intermediate shellings and occasional brushes with Federal skirmishers, the Confederate right witnessed little action.

August 30, 1862 - At about 4 p.m., the long blue lines of Fitz-John Porter’s Fifth Corps filled the horizon and began approaching Jackson’s forces.  The Second Virginia, anchoring the right flank of the Stonewall Brigade, watched the Federals advance from a woods parallel with and 200 yards from the cut of an unfinished railroad.  As the Union infantry inched forward, Raleigh Colston received orders “to get the regiment into the railroad cut.”  “The conflict from the woods to the railroad was terrible,” Colston reported later, “and it was at this time that casualties in the Second were the greatest.”  Wave after wave of Union attackers swept toward the Confederate defenders, but none succeeded in breeching the Rebel position.  Porter’s thrusts finally ceased after Longstreet crashed into Pope’s left flank, forcing the Federal commander to retreat from the field and to withdraw his defeated army to Centerville.  The three-day fight at Second Manassas had crippled severely the Second Virginia Infantry.  Casualties had stripped the regiment to a skeleton unit:

Casualties at Second Manassas:

Company	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	Total	
KIA	4	1	-	1	1	-	-	-	3	3	13	
MWIA	1	2	1	5	2	-	3	2	2	1	19	
WDED	7	7	5	5	7	1	7	3	4	3	49	
POW	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	
TOTAL	12	10	6	11	10	1	10	5	9	7	81	

	Casualties incurred by the regiment at Second Manassas tripled the losses it later received at Gettysburg, the only equivalent three-day battle in which the Second Virginia participated.  Only the ‘Bloody Angle” of Spotsylvania produced more losses in the regiment (100).  Most appealing, however, was this statistic: of the estimated 130 men available for duty on August 28, 82 soldiers or 67 percent of the regiment’s strength dropped on the field at Manassas in only 48 hours!  No other battle produced such a staggering proportion of losses in the regiment.

	Despite these damages, the Second Virginia had no time to recuperate.  Robert E. Lee had his eyes glued on Maryland.  When the Army of Northern Virginia began wading the Potomac on September 5, the 40 or more survivors in the Second Virginia splashed along also, joining their comrades in a resounding chorus of “Maryland, My Maryland.”  The first major invasion of the North was underway.  The Maryland campaign of 1862 is known best for two major events.  The first is the Confederate siege and capture of Harpers Ferry; the second the Battle of Antietam.  In neither of these actions did the Second Virginia participate.  In fact, the regiment’s excursion into Maryland lasted but six days.

September 7, 1862 - After crossing the Potomac on September 5, the regiment marched with the brigade to Frederick, encamping on the 7th two miles north of Frederick along the Emmitsburg Road.  Several days of inactivity followed; but on the 10th, Stonewall’s men broke camp and proceeded west across South Mountain via Turner’s Gap and the National Pike.  After an evening of rest near Boonsboro, Jackson’s forces traveled even further west, recrossing the Potomac on September 11 at Williamsport and then advancing toward Martinsburg on the 12th.  The following day, Old Jack’s command zeroed in on Harpers Ferry, arriving just opposite Bolivar Heights during the late morning on September 13.

	Harpers Ferry was the reason for this circuitous cross-country gallop through Maryland and Virginia.  Garrisoned in the lower valley towns of Harpers Ferry and Martinsburg were 14,000 Federals who posed a potential threat to Confederate communication and supply lines into Maryland.  In a bold plan outlined in Special Order 191, Lee had plotted to remove the Yankee menace from the Valley, first by herding the Federals into a trap at Harpers Ferry and then by encircling the town with Confederates.  Although behind schedule a few days, Lee’s scheme worked brilliantly, culminating with the surrender of the Harpers Ferry garrison on September 15, 1862.  The Second Virginia, however, witnessed none of the Harpers Ferry drama.  Detached several days before the investment of the Ferry, the regiment remained behind at Martinsburg as Provost guard.  This unexpected development especially thrilled Company D, but the Martinsburg homecoming provided benefits and comforts to all in the Second.

Mid-September 1862 - Thundering artillery at Harpers Ferry and cannon roaring at Sharpsburg interrupted the peace the regiment enjoyed in mid September 1862; but no bullets were flying at Martinsburg; no men were dying.  For the moment, at least, the war was only a sound to the Second Virginia Infantry.

Late-September 1862 - Provost duty at Martinsburg remained the regiment’s primary function during the week following September 19 - the day Lee’s bedraggled Confederates completed their retreat from Maryland.  After a brief stay near the Potomac, the army and the Second Virginia moved south to Bunker Hill.  Three weeks passed before the regiment changed base again, this time traveling east into Jefferson County and pitching Camp Allen near Rippon on October 20.

October 1862 - The month of October 1862 produced a remarkable revitalization of the Second Virginia Infantry.  Soldiers wounded during the summer’s campaigns quietly reappeared in the ranks.  Sick men absent for months with debilitating diseases returned from the hospitals fully recovered.  Stragglers wearied by the summer’s strenuous marches ventured into camp on a daily basis.  Conscripts and enlisted men absent without leave silently rejoined to perform their duties.  Determined draft and recruitment campaigns generated 67 additional bodies for a regiment resolved to rebuild.  When the paymaster finally arrived on October 31, the Second Virginia Infantry mustered 432 men - a phenomenal 1,100 percent increase over the 36 survivors reported in the regiment by Captain John Rowan following the butchery at Second Manassas.

November 22, 1862 - The regiment headed east toward Fredericksburg, its rested and healthy members radiated strength and a new vigor; but despite this resurgence in the Second Infantry, one nagging problem remained: the regiment still lacked a suitable command structure three months after the death of Colonel Lawson Botts.  No field officers had been appointed as yet and few promotions had occurred at the company level.  Brigadier General E. F. Paxton, the Stonewall Brigade’s new commander, recognized that these deficiencies existed in the Second and had designated a Board of Examiners to find suitable replacements for the field-officer vacancies.  These positions were still unfilled however, when fighting erupted at Fredericksburg on December 13.

December 13, 1862 - At daybreak on the morning prior to the battle, the Second Virginia had marched with the Brigade from its encampment near Guinea’s Depot to Hamilton’s Crossing on the Richmond,  Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad.  During the afternoon, the men moved westward and were positioned approximately 400 yards behind A. P. Hill’s division in a large woods covering the crest of a hill.

	When the front line of the Confederate right became hotly engaged on the morning of the 13th, the Stonewall Brigade was ordered to advance.  As the brigade pushed forward with the Second Virginia on its right, Captain Nadenbousch observed that “there was no support on our right.”  Nadenbousch feared that “if the enemy was near at hand they would take advantage of this gap and fall upon our flank at this unguarded point.”  Sure enough, as Nadenbousch had predicted, the Federals drove toward “the gap” on the right of the Second with a large force of infantry.  The veteran captain responded decisively to this threat, first by filing the regiment to the right and then by presenting the front of the Second to the oncoming Unionists.  A sharp fight ensued, but only momentarily, for the Federals soon withdrew.  The regiment then rejoined the brigade and continued forward until reaching the R. F. & P. Railroad, where it remained until 7 p.m., when instructions were received ordering a withdrawal from the front for the evening.

December 14, 1862 - In practical terms, the fight at Fredericksburg had ended.  Some “lively skirmishing” kept the brigade and the regiment occupied throughout the 14th.  The Second Virginia had escaped from the Fredericksburg action relatively unscathed.  Total casualties for the regiment numbered 20, with two men killed and 18 wounded, two wounds being mortal.  The battle at Fredericksburg did establish one record, however.  One of the men killed in the Second - John Kiser of Company E - had been in the army only nine days.  No other soldier in the regiment served so little time before meeting his death.

	With the Federals soundly defeated and winter rapidly approaching, Jackson moved his forces southeast of Fredericksburg and established winter quarters at Moss (or Corbin’s) Neck.  For the next two months, the “good log huts” of Camp Winder sheltered the Stonewall Brigade and the Second regiment from a winter that was “variable and disagreeable if not severe.”

March 17, 1863 - John Q. A. Nadenbousch and Raleigh T. Colston received their appointments as colonel and lieutenant colonel of the Second Virginia Infantry.  It was highly protested by John W. Rowan of Company A who was senior captain in the Second Virginia. The rank of major remained vacant, as Samuel J. C. Moore had received a promotion in the Adjutant General’s Department and had transferred out of the regiment.  Edwin L. Moore of Company G later occupied the major’s position.

April 30, 1863 - Messengers reported a large portion of Hooker’s army crossing the Rappahannock west of Fredericksburg and concentrating on the extreme left and to the rear of Lee’s outnumbered forces.  General Lee promptly responded by withdrawing much of his army from Fredericksburg and redeploying it seven miles to the west, near Chancellorsville. 

May 1, 1863 - The Stonewall Brigade arrived near Lee’s western front.

May 2, 1863 - Jackson led his 28,000 Confederates on a flanking maneuver that eventually crushed the unsuspecting Federal right.  The Second Virginia and the Stonewall Brigade participated in the 12-mile venture that exposed Hooker’s right; and though “the day was very hot and the movement rapid,” Colonel Nadenbousch proudly reported “that not a man of the regiment straggled or fell to the rear.”  The Stonewall Brigade was posted on the extreme right of Jackson’s line, along the Plank Road.  The brigade and the regiment remained in this position while Jackson’s warriors pounced on the Federal Eleventh Corps.

	6 p.m. - The Stonewall Brigade moved forward to join the victorious Confederates and spent much of the rest of May 2 changing positions to the right and left of the Plank Road.  

May 3, 1863 - Vengeful Federals greeted their Rebel flankers at sunrise with a “terrific shelling.”  Despite this bombardment, the brigade and the regiment received orders at about 6 a.m. to advance to a position about 300 yards to the right of the Plank Road.  Their mission - to attack and capture some enemy breastworks obstructing the advance on the Confederate right.  An interminable mass of undergrowth, a swamp, and a “destructive musketry fire” made passage toward the breastworks quite difficult; but the determined veterans pressed forward with the watchword “Remember Jackson” (who had been wounded the previous evening), and successfully seized the Federal works.  

	During this advance, the Second Virginia had been detached and had positioned itself upon high ground approximately 100 yards to the right of the brigade.  When Union reinforcements massed to retake the contested breastworks, the Second Virginia used its advantage on the higher elevation “to maintain an incessant fire upon the head” of the Yankee counterattack.  The Federals were driven back and the breastworks belonged to the Stonewall Brigade.
	3 p.m. - The Second Virginia were supplied with rations and ammunition and proceeded to march north from the Chancellor House toward the United States Ford on the Rappahannock.  Confederate strategists hoped to reach the ford and to cut off Hooker’s main avenue of escape.  The Federals, however, hurled a “terrific fire of grape and shell” at the Rebel advance and maintained a secure stronghold behind their newly-constructed breastworks.  The Stonewall Brigade ventured to within 200 yards of the Union fortifications, but severe artillery fire forced the brigade to retire and to seek shelter during the night behind some abandoned Federal works.

May 4, 1863 - The Stonewall Brigade and regiment transferred to a position three-quarters of a mile east of the road leading to the United States Ford.  The men faced the enemy’s works and remained here skirmishing until the morning of May 6.

Chancellorsville was a masterful Confederate triumph, but a Pyrrhic victory at best.  Morale soared as the Stonewall Brigade and the Second Virginia Infantry rested comfortably near Hamilton’s Crossing at Camp Paxton.  Most eagerly awaited the army’s next campaign.

Casualties at Chancellorsville:

Company	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	Total	
KIA	1	-	1	2	-	-	1	1	-	2	8	
MWIA	-	2	-	1	-	1	-	-	3	1	8	
WDED	3	2	2	3	5	2	4	1	9	3	34	
POW	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	
TOTAL	4	4	3	6	5	3	5	2	12	6	50	

June 5, 1863 - The drive to Pennsylvania begins.  Jackson’s corps, now reorganized and commanded by Richard S. Ewell, headed west from Fredericksburg via Culpeper toward the Shenandoah Valley.  The journey was “steady and regular” during the next week with marches ranging between ten and 18 miles each day.  Division commander Edward Johnson reported that “nothing occurred worthy of particular note during the march.”  In honor of the return to the Valley, the Second Virginia and the Stonewall Brigade were ordered to the front to take the advance.  “How all stepped out with renewed vigor and pressed forward eager to meet the foe and drive him from our beloved homeland.”  The foe, as expected, waited nervously behind its defenses at Winchester.  Union general Robert Milroy knew the Confederates were coming, and his 6,000-8,000 men prepared to give the Rebs a hot reception.  “Old Baldy” Ewell, on the other hand, planned a different program.  Ewell and Jubal Early schemed to rout the Federals from their forts and to gobble them up during their subsequent retreat.  Milroy was to be bagged.

June 13, 1863 (Saturday) - At daybreak, Edward Johnson’s division began marching north on the Winchester and Front Royal Turnpike.  Johnson placed the Second Virginia Infantry in from of the division about nine miles from Winchester.  The advance experienced no opposition until noon when, four miles south of Winchester, the Confederates encountered enemy pickets.  The Second Virginia was detached from the Stonewall Brigade and deployed as skirmishers.  General Johnson watched the movement and later complimented the Second: “This regiment advanced handsomely, driving the enemy to a stone fence near the junction of the Millwood and Front Royal Roads.”  The Federal pickets sheltered themselves behind this rock fortification; but when the Second “continued to press them sharply,” the bluecoats evacuated their position.  The regiment remained in a skirmish line along the Millwood Pike until 9 p.m.  It then rejoined the brigade and later advanced under cover of woods to a position nearer Winchester.
June 14, 1863 - Johnson maneuvered his division onto the hills southeast of town.  Johnson’s diversion focused Milroy’s attention on his right and enabled Early to swing around the Federal left in preparation for the main attack against the Union fortifications northwest of Winchester.  The Stonewall Brigade suffered no casualties on the 14th since it rested comfortably to the rear of the hills southeast of town under cover of a ravine.  To prevent Federal detection of his movement, Johnson marched his division to Stephenson’s via the road which let by Jordan Springs.

June 15, 1863 - Johnson reached his designation position and rapidly deployed behind a stone fence along the edge of the Winchester and Potomac Railroad and immediately adjacent to the Valley Pike.  General Johnson scarcely had completed his dispositions when the unexpected happened - a Federal attack viciously and suddenly swooped down upon his lines.  Large flanking parties quickly threatened the Confederate position.  “The situation was exceedingly critical,” the mortified Johnson reported, “ and nothing could have been more timely than the arrival of the Stonewall Brigade.”

	The Second and Fifth regiments formed in line of battle on the Confederate right and advanced immediately across the railroad and onto the Valley Pike.  The dense morning fog and the smoke of burned powder reduced visibility to only a “few steps in front” of the men.  Upon reaching the Turnpike, however, the Second and Fifth regiments spied a large body of troops moving north towards Martinsburg.  It was the enemy - retreating!  The Virginians unloaded a volley; the Federals gave way; and a chase through a woods quickly followed.  Frightened Unionists ran for their lives, bu only for a moment.  With the Confederates hotly pursuing and the situation hopeless, dejected Yanks hoisted the white flag.  The battle of Second Winchester had ended.  Only Milroy and 200 to 300 of his cavalry had escaped the Confederate pincers.  Men in the Second Virginia found themselves the proud possessors of six stands of enemy colors.  Colonel Nadenbousch informed headquarters that the following infantry regiments had surrendered to the Second: Eighteenth Connecticut; Fifth Maryland; One hundred and twenty-second Ohio; One hundred and twenty-third Ohio; Eighty-seventh Pennsylvania; and the Twelfth West Virginia.  The Second Virginia acquired this remarkable fortune (816 prisoners) at the price of only two men wounded.  In no other battle did the regiment gain so much and lose so little.

June 18, 1863 - Ewell’s confident Confederates splashed into Maryland.  Ewell’s forces encamped upon the battlefield at Sharpsburg.  The Second Virginia picketed for a brief time at Burnside Bridge.

June 19, 1863 - The command traveled to Hagerstown and then started north for Pennsylvania.

June 28, 1863 - Ewell’s forces encamped at Calisle [Carlisle] Pennsylvania.

June 29, 1863 - Johnson’s division countermarched south from Carlisle and raced eastward toward Gettysburg, arriving there too late to participate in the action of July 1.  

July 1, 1863 - During the late evening hours, the Stonewall Brigade and the Second Virginia deployed in a position southeast of town on the extreme left of the Confederate line.  The brigade and the regiment remained here - on Culp’s farm near the Hanover Road.

July 2, 1863 - 6 p.m. - The brigade advanced to the north side of the Hanover Road.  Federal sharpshooters posted inn a wheat field and woods opened an annoying fire on the brigade’s left flank.  The Second Virginia was ordered to drive away these menacing harrassers, and “at a single dash, the men advancing with great spirit, “ the regiment accomplished its task.

	8 p.m. - The Second rejoined the brigade - still on the extreme left of the Confederate line without Companies I and K, which had been detached “to watch the fellows they had just driven off and to guard the road in the rear of the battle line.” 

July 3, 1863 - 3 a.m. - The brigade and the regiment crossed to the north bank of Rock Creek and positioned themselves eventually at the base of Culp’s Hill, 30 yards in front of some captured enemy breastworks.  Two of the three bloody days at Gettysburg had passed and the Second Virginia thus far had burned virtually no powder; within hours, however, the regiment’s rifle barrels became red hot.

	John Geary’s division of the Federal Twelfth Corps charged toward the Confederate left at dawn.  Recapture of the breastworks at the base of Culp’s Hill was the Union objective, but the Rebel defenders refused to budge from the works they had taken on the previous night.  When it became apparent that one Federal thrust was intended to turn the Confederate flank to the left of the Stonewall Brigade, Colonel Nadenbousch received orders to support the First North Carolina Infantry and to protect the threatened left flank.  Nadenbousch acted quickly.  First he detached Company D and sent it south across Rock Creek “for the purpose of attracting the fire of the enemy” and to force the Federals to the right.  Company D maneuvered into position, and as expected, when its volley of lead crashed into the Union column, the Federals diverted their advance to the right.  Nadenbousch’s strategy had worked perfectly - the new Union route placed the Yankees on a collision course with the Second Infantry.  The regiment waited patiently behind the breastworks the Federals were attempting to recapture.  Onward the bluecoats rushed, harder and faster, when suddenly - 25 yards to the left of the contested works - the Federal drive halted abruptly.  The Second Virginia had “opened a heated oblique fire” that had stunned and stalled the Union advance.

	The Unionists stood stubbornly where they had stopped, compelling Nadenbousch to further divide his regiment.  Two companies were detached and sent 60 yards to the rear to annoy the attacker’s right flank.  The remainder of the regiment joined Company D on the south side of Rock Creek and poured more lead into the Federal front.  “With this concentrated fire” combined with the efforts of the First North Carolina, Nadenbousch reported “the enemy was soon forced to retire in confusion.”  The Second Virginia did not rejoin the brigade at this juncture, but remained instead on the south side of Rock Creek where it engaged in skirmishing for the rest of the day.  The regiment did not participate in the July 3 assaults against Culp’s Hill; consequently, since it encountered minimal action, the Second Virginia suffered limited casualties during the bloody three days at Gettysburg.  Losses included one killed, 14 wounded (three mortally), nine captured and four missing.

July 4, 1863 - 12-1 a.m - Confederates withdrew to Seminary Ridge where they remained drawn up in line of battle until 11 p.m.

July 13, 1863 - Lee’s weary veterans finally waded the Potomac near Williamsport, the Gettysburg Campaign was history.
Late July 1863 - The regiment’s Compiled Service Records discloses 61 deserters from the Second’s ranks during the two weeks following the army’s reentry into Virginia.  Most of the desertions occurred at Darkesville, a Berkeley County village; consequently, it is not surprising to discover that Company D and E - the two Berkeley County units in the regiment - accounted for more than half the desertions noted above (22 skedaddled from Company D; ten from Company E).  This massive departure represented nearly one-fifth of the regiment’s total number of deserters for the entire war.

July - September 14, 1863 - The regiment remained encamped with the brigade at Orange Court House.

September 14 - October 8, 1863 - The regiment with the brigade pitched tents at Morton’s Ford on the Rapidan.

Mid-October, 1863 - The brigade arrived too late to participate in the fighting at Bristoe Station.  On the return south to Brandy Station, the regiment helped to destroy the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, eventually returning to Morton’s Ford in early November 1863.

October 26, 1863 - Execution of Layton B. Morris of Company D for desertion.  He was the only man to receive the death sentence for desertion within the Second Virginia.

November 26, 1863 - “To arms!”  Scouts had reported Union forces crossing the Rapidan and General Lee desired to have his Confederates ready to meet the expected Federal attack.  General Johnson marched his division from its “tolerably comfortable” camp at Morton’s Ford and positioned his men behind breastworks near Mine Run on the evening of the 26th.

November 27, 1863 - Federal movements indicated an assault against the Confederate right, Johnson’s division left the breastworks and hustled southeast to strengthen Lee’s right, then anchored near Locust Grove.  Just as the head of the column approached its destination, a “sharp but desultory firing” erupted toward the rear of the division.  Enemy skirmishers had attacked an ambulance train just to the rear of the Stonewall Brigade.  Johnson immediately ordered an about face and instructed his brigadiers to throw out skirmishers.  Since the Second Virginia was bringing up the rear of the brigade and consequently was nearest the action, Lieutenant Colonel Colston - filling in for the ailing John Nadenbousch - received orders to deploy the Second Virginia in front of the brigade and to “feel out” the enemy’s skirmishers.  Colston quickly organized his line and rapidly advanced toward covery: the woods it approached contained more than a handful of Yankee sharpshooters.  The entire Twelfth Corps of the Army of the Potomac was preparing for battle!

	The Federal Twelfth Corps had unexpectedly collided with Edward Johnson’s division, and Raleigh Colston’s skirmish line provided the Unionists with an easy target.  A tornado of lead smashed into the Second Virginia Infantry.  Colonel Colston toppled form his horse, his left leg shattered by a minie.  Captain Charles Stewart received command, and Stewart withdrew hastily until the regiment connected its line with the Confederate skirmishers on its right and left.  The advance of the enemy opened a heavy skirmish fire against the defending Southerners, but the Twelfth Corps massed no major assaults.

	4 p.m - General Johnson ordered an attack “to drive the enemy out of the tangled wilderness in which he had sheltered himself.”  The Federals moved forward at the same time.  The two lines of advancing opponents presented Captain Stewart with a major problem: the Second Virginia - still deployed as skirmishers and in position on the crest of a hill - was “directly in line of fire” from both sides of the field.  Stewart rectified this hazard when he ordered the regiment to fall back to the brigade and to reform in its rear.

	Johnson’s determined Confederates surged forward toward the woods and the open fields of Payne’s Farm just beyond.  The snarled thicket through which the men scrambled, however, was so dense that it was “found impossible to maintain an unbroken line.”  Consequently each brigade commander, finding himself unsupported on both flanks, ordered his brigades back to the edge of an open field; here the Confederates remained unmolested for the rest of the evening.

	10 p.m. - Johnson withdrew his forces.

November 28, 1863 - Johnson settled his forces on the hills along the western bank of Mine Run.

Casualties at Payne’s Farm:

Company	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	Total	
KIA	-	-	-	2	-	1	-	-	2	-	5	
MWIA	-	1	-	-	-	-	1	-	1	-	3	
WDED	2	-	3	-	6	6	9	1	7	3	37	
POW	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	
TOTAL	2	1	3	2	6	7	10	1	10	3	45	

	At first, Colonel Raleigh Colston’s left leg had been amputated just below the knee and would prevent the colonel’s return to the regiment.

December 23, 1863 - Raleigh Colston died of pneumonia.  The regiment had lost its fourth colonel in two and one-half years.

January 1, 1864 - The Stonewall Brigade and the regiment settled into new winter quarters at Pisgah Church.  

April 1864 (?) - William W. Randolph from Company C was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Second Virginia Infantry.

May 4, 1864 - Ulysses S. Grant and the Army of the Potomac had crossed the Rappahannock and the spring campaign had commenced with a race through the Wilderness.  General Lee resolved to strike the Federals while they were still entangled in the densely overgrown jungle of the Wilderness.  

	Evening - The Stonewall Brigade packed its bags at Pisgah Church and started east with Johnson’s division along the Orange Turnpike. 

May 5, 1864 (Noon) - While near the intersection of the turnpike and the Germanna Plank Road, the advancing Confederates collided with the head of the Federal column and the Battle of the Wilderness began.  

	The Second’s position was on the extreme left of the brigade and also on the extreme left of Johnson’s division.  While in this precarious situation, the line of the Second “had to be continually stretched out towards the left” in order to counter repeated Federal flanking attacks.  Colonel Randolph conducted the defense of his position actively and decisively, even ordering the color-bearer at one point to plant the Second’s standard beside himself in order to steady the regiment’s line.

	2 p.m. - Randolph barely had begun his mission when a bullet smashed into his skull, wounding him mortally.  Two hours later, the last and the youngest colonel of the Second Virginia Infantry was dead at age 27.

	5 p.m. - The regiment held its own up to this time when relief finally arrived.  Harry Hay’s Louisianians marched onto the field and the Stonewall Brigade dropped to the rear to reorganize and to rearm.  Casualties had been relatively light; one man killed; two wounded mortally; and four more injured in the fight of the Wilderness.

May 8, 1864 - Grant abandoned his position, however, he started driving toward Lee’s right flank, the Confederates moved rapidly to the right also.  A “hot and toilsome” 16-hour march eventually brought the Southerners into a position north of Spotsylvania Court House on the evening of the 8th.  A rail fence nearby gave Johnson’s division a foundation for new breastworks and the army’s first line of defense at Spotsylvania.  The five sided salient which Johnson’s men had constructed protruded northward from the center of a Confederate line distinctly resembling a “mule shoe.”  

May 10, 1864 - This unusual fortification received its first test when Emory Upton’s brigade of the Federal Sixth Corps pierced the left wall of the salient and went dashing toward the Stonewall Brigade, then posted on the left center of Johnson’s line.  The Second Virginia - on the far left of the brigade and closest to the Union attackers - initially fell back, but the rest of the brigade and additional reinforcements soon rushed to the rescue and the Federals were repulsed.

May 12, 1864 - A light rain was falling and a dense fog blanket reduced visibility to near zero.  Suddenly, thousands of bluecoats from Hancock’s Second Corps poured over the top of the salient breastworks and hundreds of Southerners were prisoners of war.  Most in the Stonewall Brigade threw up their arms and surrendered.  Ninety-five men of the Second Virginia alone had been captured near what soon became known as the “Bloody Angle.”

Casualties at the “Bloody Angle”

Company	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	Total	
KIA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	
MWIA	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	1	
WDED	-	-	3	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	4	
POW	18	11	8	16	3	16	2	4	5	12	95	
TOTAL	18	11	11	16	3	16	3	5	5	12	100	

	Losses on May 12, 1864, at Spotsylvania - the greatest suffered by the Second Virginia in the war - crippled but did not destroy the lower valley regiment.  Even after the May 12 disaster, the Second Virginia Infantry turned out 200 soldiers available for duty.  The Stonewall Brigade officially ceased to exist after the Spotsylvania catastrophe.  The Second Infantry was consolidated with 13 other regiments and formed into a brigade composed mostly of the remnants of Edward Johnson’s division.  

	It is difficult to chronicle the history of the Second Virginia Infantry during the last eleven months of the war.  
U.S. Grant continued maneuvering against the right flank of Lee’s army throughout May and June of 1864.  Lee shadowed his stubborn opponent on each move, but the Second Virginia experienced no action when the two armies locked horns at North Anna (May 17) and Cold Harbor (June 3).

	When Lee dispatched Jubal Early and the Second Corps to the Shenandoah Valley in mid-June, the regiment marched along (now as a part of John B. Gordon’s division) and helped frighten David Hunter’s Yankees out of the Valley.  In early July, “Old Jube” grasped the initiative and invaded Maryland, climaxing his drive with a demonstration toward Washington.  This Confederate offensive stalled, however, when Early’s skirmishers collided with veterans from the Army of the Potomac at Fort Stevens.  Early then withdrew across the Potomac and moved back to the Valley in late July.

	The Second Virginia returned from its excursion into Maryland relatively unscathed by the July 9 fight at Monocacy (nine casualties) and the movement against Fort Stevens (no reported injuries).  In mid-August, the regiment settled at Winchester and began a relaxing few weeks of provost duty.

	Major General Philip H. Sheridan introduced himself to the Shenandoah Valley in late August 1864.  Within one month, the good fortunes Early’s Confederates were enjoying rapidly would disappear. 

September 19, 1864 - Sheridan’s 40,000 struck “Old Jube’s” greatly outnumbered divisions at Third Winchester, eventually forcing the Southerners to withdraw up the Valley Pike past Strasburg.  Sheridan hotly pursued, and three days later at Fisher’s Hill, “Little Phil” stampeded Early’s left flank and produced a major Confederate defeat.

October 19, 1864 - Early fired back when he surprised the Federals at Cedar Creek and initially routed them in confusion.  The fiesty Sheridan rallied his troops, however, and unleashed a counterattack that virtually annihilated Early’s Second Corps.  The lower valley belonged to Sheridan.  The Second Virginia suffered only 18 casualties in the three battles against Sheridan.  Most of the victims (13) were captured, but two men were killed and three other veterans wounded.  The most painful loss, however, occurred at Third Winchester.  While defending the town during the late afternoon of September 19, the Second Virginia lost its battle flag on the heights north of Winchester.  A spirited charge by the Thirty-seventh Massachusetts Infantry (Third brigade, First division, Sixth Corps) cracked the regiment’s line and the tattered colors fell.  Thirteen battles inscribed across the Stars and Bars proved complete testimony to the regiment’s arduous service during three years of war.

October 31, 1864 - 113 member mustered within the Second Virginia.  Evidence of the regiment’s deterioration - in addition to its reduction in strength - was disclosed when an inspection report in late November labeled the command “in a most deplorable condition,” and warned that clothing and especially overcoats were an “absolute necessity” to prevent much suffering during the coming cold weather.  The same inspector also found a “large deficiency” in the regiment’s armaments due to the fact that “most of the guns issued to [the Stonewall Brigade] since October 19 [had] been collected from citizens.”  The report recommended that .58 caliber rifles replace the old .69 smoothbores as soon as possible.

December 6, 1864 - The survivors of Jubal Early’s Second Corps left the Shenandoah Valley for the last time as soldiers.  The columns marched eastward to join Lee at Petersburg.  When “Old Jube’s” campaigners arrived in mid-December, the Stonewall Brigade was stationed on the Confederate right at Hatcher’s Run.  Winter quarters hastily were constructed at Camp Ewell near Burgess Mills.  For the next four months, the men spent their energy “fighting famine from within and Grant from without.”

	Cornbread and middling day after day weakened the constitutions of many in the Second Virginia.  “Chills and fever and other malarious diseases” sent many from the trenches to the hospital during the winter of 1865.  In some ways, however, the regiment’s situation improved.  An inspection report of the Stonewall Brigade in late February revealed that the arms and accouterments of the command were “ample” and that all the brigade’s units were “well-clad.”  Only the “great want of soap,” the inspector reported, “prevented] that perfect cleanliness which would otherwise be the case.”

March 25, 1865 (4 a.m.) - John Gordon’s Second Corps charged toward Fort Steadman in an all-out effort to loosen Grant’s stranglehold on Petersburg.  Gordon’s determined Confederates rushed forward and captured the fort; but confusion followed the initial success, and in a short time Gordon’s attackers were raked by a murderous Federal countercharge.  Rather than risking the return to their own lines, hundreds of Confederates surrendered, including nine veterans of the Second Virginia Infantry.  Eight days after the Fort Steadman assault, Petersburg fell.  The week-long retreat toward Appomattox then began.

April 9, 1865 - Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia.  Only 69 men in the Second Virginia Infantry witnessed the end.

Numbers who surrendered at Appomattox

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	
4	13	7	7	14	0	10	10	2	2	

According to the official records, 1,631 men served in the Second Virginia Infantry.  The regiment reached its greatest strength on June 30, 1861, when 671 soldiers mustered near Winchester.

Company I topped the list with the largest company strength when it mustered 92 eager recruits on June 30, 1861.  Company D consistently maintained the highest numbers on its roles, however, averaging 59 present for duty during the first three years of the war.

The total number who registered in each company during the war:

A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	
130	148	151	202	169	166	184	144	170	145	

Nearly half of those who fought with the Second Virginia became a casualty at some point during the war.  

Second Virginia Casualties:

Company	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	K	Total	
KIA	6	3	7	10	7	7	3	4	7	6	60	
MWIA	3	6	3	10	4	4	8	7	7	3	55	
WDED	25	19	39	31	52	26	49	18	37	17	313	
POW	55	39	26	53	31	33	21	16	40	30	344	
TOTAL	89	67	75	104	94	70	81	45	91	56	772	

Does not include the four men who were reported missing at Gettysburg or the regiment’s five field officers who were killed or mortally wounded.

The Second Virginia’s battlefield statistics are presented below.  The battles with the highest casualties are listed first:

Battle				Date		Total		KIA		MWIA		WDED		POW
1. Spotsylvania			5/12/64		100		-		1			4		95
2. 2nd Manassas			8/28-30/62	83		13		19			49		-

3. 1st Manassas			7/21/61		76		15		8			53		-
4. Chancellorsville		5/3/63		50		8		8			34		-
5. Kernstown			3/23/62		47		3		2			8		34
6. Payne’s Farm			11/27/63	46		5		4			37		-	

7. 2nd Manassas			8/28/62		39		8		7			24		-
8. Gaines Mill/Malvern Hill	6/27 & 7/1 1862	28		6		4			17		1
9. Port Republic			6/9/62		26		1		-			25		-
10. Gettysburg			7/2 & 7/3 1863	24		1		3			11		9
11. 1st Winchester		5/25/62		22		3		2			11		6
12. Fredericksburg		12/13/62	20		2		2			16		-
13. Salem Church		5/20/64		18		-		-			3		15
14. Gettysburg			7/3/63		16		1		2			5		8
15. 2nd Manassas			8/30/62		14		2		7			5		-
16. Cedar Run			8/9/62		11		-		1			10		-
17. 2nd Winchester		6/15/63		2		-		-			2		-