{{short description|Confederate States Army unit}} {{Use American English|date=November 2025}} {{About|the Confederate unit|the Union unit|2nd West Virginia Infantry Regiment|the Continental Army units|2nd Virginia Regiment|and|2nd Virginia State Regiment|the Spanish-American War unit|2nd Virginia Volunteer Infantry (1898)}} {{Infobox military unit | unit_name = 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment | image = Flag of Virginia (1861–1865).svg | caption = Flag of Virginia, 1861 | dates = May 1861 &ndash; Spring 1865 | country = {{flag|Confederate States of America}} | allegiance = {{flag|Virginia|1861}} | branch = {{army|CSA}} | type = [[Regiment]] | role = [[Infantry]] | nickname = | battles = [[American Civil War]] *[[First Battle of Bull Run]] *[[Battle of Kernstown I]] *[[Battle of Cross Keys]] *[[Battle of Port Republic]] *[[Battle of Gaines Mill]] *[[Second Battle of Bull Run]] *[[Battle of Fredericksburg]] *[[Battle of Gettysburg]] | disbanded = 1865 <!-- Commanders -->| notable_commanders = Colonel [[John Quincy Adams Nadenbousch|J.Q.A. Nadenbousch]] }} [[File:Major Bernard Likens Wolff of Co. D, 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment and Rockbridge 1st Virginia Light Artillery Battery in uniform.jpg|thumb|Major Bernard Likens Wolff of Co. D, 2nd Virginia Infantry]]

The '''2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment''' was an [[infantry]] [[regiment]] raised in today's western [[Virginia]] and what became [[West Virginia]] during the [[American Civil War]] for service in the [[Confederate States Army]]. It would combine with the [[4th Virginia Infantry|4th]], [[5th Virginia Infantry|5th]], [[27th Virginia Infantry|27th]], and [[33rd Virginia Infantry|33rd Virginia infantry regiments]] and the [[1st Rockbridge Artillery|Rockbridge Artillery Battery]] and fight as part of what became known as the [[Stonewall Brigade]], mostly with the [[Army of Northern Virginia]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Stonewall_Brigade#start_entry|title=Stonewall Brigade – Encyclopedia Virginia}}</ref>

==Units==

{| class="wikitable sortable" |+ Sortable table |- ! scope="col" | Company ! scope="col" |Nickname ! scope="col" | Recruited at ! scope="col" |First Commanding Officer

|-

|| A|| Jefferson Guards|| [[Jefferson County, West Virginia|Jefferson County]]||John W. Rowan |- || B|| Hamtramck Guards|| [[Shepherdstown, West Virginia|Shepherdstown]], [[Jefferson County, West Virginia|Jefferson County]]||Vincent Moore Butler |- || C|| Nelson Rifles|| [[Millwood, Virginia|Millwood]], [[Clarke County, Virginia|Clarke County]]||William N. Nelson |- || D|| Berkeley Border Guards|| [[Martinsburg, West Virginia|Martinsburg]], [[Berkeley County, West Virginia|Berkeley County]]||[[John Quincy Adams Nadenbousch|John Q.A. Nadenbousch]] |- || E|| Hedgesville Blues||[[Hedgesville, West Virginia|Hedgesville]], [[Berkeley County, West Virginia|Berkeley County]]||Raleigh T. Colston |- || F|| Winchester Riflemen|| [[Winchester, Virginia|Winchester]], [[Frederick County, Virginia|Frederick County]]||William L. Clark, Jr |- || G|| Botts Greys|| [[Charles Town, West Virginia|Charles Town]], [[Jefferson County, West Virginia|Jefferson County]]||Lawson Botts |- || H|| Letcher Riflemen|| [[Duffields, West Virginia|Duffields]], [[Jefferson County, West Virginia|Jefferson County]]||James H.L. Hunter |- || I|| Clarke Rifles|| [[Berryville, Virginia|Berryville]], [[Clarke County, Virginia|Clarke County]]||Strother H. Bowen |- || K|| Floyd Guards|| [[Harpers Ferry, West Virginia|Harpers Ferry]], [[Jefferson County, West Virginia|Jefferson County]]||George W. Chambers |}

==Campaigns==

[[File:Private Samuel T. Cowley of Co. A, 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment LCCN2013650294.tif|thumb|right|Private Samuel T. Cowley of Co. A, 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment]]

The 2nd Virginia was assembled at Charles Town on April 18, 1861, then moved (gathering further units en route) to Harper's Ferry to seize the armory. Its ten companies were from the counties of Clarke, Frederick, Jefferson, and Berkeley.

As the volunteer units approached the armory, they heard a roar and saw a flash as Lt. Roger Jones and his U.S. army regulars blew up the arsenal at 10p.m.<ref>Dennis E. Frye, 2nd Virginia Infantry (Lynchburg, H.E. Howard Inc. Virginia Regimental History Series, 1st edition 1984) p. 4</ref> Capt. John Rowan and the Jefferson Guards led the volunteers into Harpers Ferry three hours later, meeting no opposition and noticing that while 15,000 weapons had been destroyed, townspeople had saved the buildings and weapon-producing machinery inside. That machinery was soon shipped to the [[Tredegar Iron Works]] in [[Richmond, Virginia]] for Confederate use.

[[Virginia Military Institute|VMI]] professor [[Stonewall Jackson|Thomas Jonathan Jackson]] arrived on Monday, April 29 and organized the volunteer craftsmen, laborers and farmers of the ten drilled companies into regiments, revolutionizing their notions of war in a short time. Col. Allen and Lt. Col. Francis Lackland had both graduated in the VMI class of 1849. Captains John W. Rowan (of the Jefferson Guards of Charles Town), Vincent Moore Butler (of the Hamtramck Guards of Shepherdstown), William N. Nelson (of the Nelson Rifles of Millwood) and George W. Chambers (of the Floyd Guards raised in Harpers Ferry) had military experience in Mexico. Throughout May (as the units were mustered officially into Virginia state service mid-month), Jackson assiduously drilled the men, 12 hours each day; they learned complex maneuvers and began jelling into a single unit.<ref>Frye pp. 6-8</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://civilwarintheeast.com/confederate-regiments/virginia/2nd-virginia-infantry-regiment|title=2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment}}</ref>

The unit became part of the [[Army of the Shenandoah (Confederate)|Army of the Shenandoah]] and evacuated Harpers Ferry on June 14, 1861, upon orders of General [[Joseph E. Johnston]], who considered the location untenable. Troops burned the Shepherdstown bridge (private [[Henry Kyd Douglas]] realizing that his father was a stockholder in the property being destroyed) and joined Johnston's army four miles south of Charles Town. They would then change camp seven times in 17 days. Their first skirmish was on July 2, 1861, and involved no casualties, but lost the company's tents at what became known as the [[Battle of Hoke's Run]] or Falling Water.<ref>Frye pp. 9-11</ref> The 2nd Virginia was accepted into Confederate service in mid-July, then ordered on July 18 to Manassas Junction (traveling by railroad) to reinforce General P. G. T. Beauregard's Army of the Potomac. It gained its nickname at what became the [[First Battle of Manassas]] on July 21, 1861. In the previous months, the unit was sometimes known as "Virginia's First Brigade", which caused confusion as the [[1st Virginia Infantry]] was established at Richmond in May 1861 and composed of regular Virginia troops. As part of the Stonewall Brigade, the 2nd Virginia fought under Generals [[Stonewall Jackson|T.J. Jackson]], [[Richard B. Garnett|R.B. Garnett]], [[Charles Sidney Winder|Winder]], [[Elisha F. Paxton|Paxton]], [[James A. Walker|J.A. Walker]], and [[William Terry (congressman)|W. Terry]].

The 2nd Virginia fought at many famous battles throughout the conflict. In addition to First Manassas, it fought at Second Manassas (after [[First Battle of Kernstown|First Kernstown]] and [[Jackson's Valley Campaign]] and with the Army of Northern Virginia from the [[Seven Days' Battles]] to [[Battle of Cold Harbor|Cold Harbor]]). It reported 90 casualties at [[First Battle of Kernstown|First Kernstown]], 25 at [[Battle of Cross Keys|Cross Keys]] and [[Battle of Port Republic|Port Republic]], 27 at [[Battle of Gaines' Mill|Gaines' Mill]], and 77 at [[Second Battle of Manassas|Second Manassas]]. However, during part of the Maryland Campaign of 1863, it was detached to Martinsburg as provost guards. The regiment lost 2 killed and 19 wounded at [[Battle of Fredericksburg|Fredericksburg]], had 8 killed and 58 wounded at [[Battle of Chancellorsville|Chancellorsville]], and had about eight percent of the 333 men engaged at [[Battle of Gettysburg|Gettysburg]] disabled. Later, the unit was involved in Jubal Early's [[Valley Campaigns of 1864|operations in the Shenandoah Valley]] and finally surrendered at the end at [[Appomattox Court House National Historical Park|Appomattox Court House]] on April 9, 1865, with 9 officers and 62 men. A notable death from the Regiment was that of Private John Wesley Culp, who was killed on his uncle's farm in Gettysburg (hence "Culp's Hill").

==Significant members==

Its field officers were Colonels James W. Allen (who died at the [[Battle of Cold Harbor]]),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Walker |first=Charles D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KcAiAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA120&lpg |title=Memorial, Virginia Military Institute: Biographical Sketches of the Graduates and Élèves of the Virginia Military Institute who Fell During the War Between the States |date=1875 |publisher=J. B. Lippincott & Company |language=en}}</ref> Lawson Botts (of the Botts Greys, initially raised at Charles Town as Company G, killed in skirmishes shortly before Second Manassas), and [[John Quincy Adams Nadenbousch|John Q.A. Nadenbousch]] (initially of Company D, the Berkeley Border Guards, raised at Martinsburg); Lieutenant Colonels Francis Lackland (a VMI graduate of the same 1849 VMI class as Col. Allen, who would be hospitalized with pneumonia and die in September 1861); Raleigh T. Colston (initially of Company E, the Hedgesville Blues, and who became the unit's colonel after Nadenbousch was forced to retire following complications after the Battle of Gettysburg and who died at the [[Battle of Mine Run]] in November 1864), and William W. Randolph; and Majors Francis B. Jones, Edwin L. Moore, and Charles H. Stewart.

Dr. [[Hunter McGuire]], who eventually would become the Second Corps' Chief Surgeon (and amputated [[Stonewall Jackson]]'s arm after Chancellorsville and the leg of [[Isaac Trimble]] after Gettysburg), initially enlisted as a private in Company F. He became active with the [[Medical Society of Virginia]] and a president of the [[American Medical Association]], and later contributed to the [[First Geneva Convention]].

==See also== {{portal|American Civil War}} *[[Company D, 2nd Virginia Infantry]] *[[List of Virginia Civil War units]] *[[List of West Virginia Civil War Confederate units]]

==References== <references /> *{{USGovernment|url=http://www.civilwar.nps.gov/cwss/regiments.cfm|title=Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System|agency=National Park Service}} {{Stonewall Brigade}}

[[Category:Units and formations of the Confederate States Army from Virginia]] [[Category:Stonewall Brigade]] [[Category:Berkeley County, West Virginia, in the American Civil War]] [[Category:1861 establishments in Virginia]] [[Category:Military units and formations established in 1861]] [[Category:1865 disestablishments in Virginia]] [[Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1865]]