36th Virginia Cavalry Battalion

Confederate Regiments & Batteries * Virginia

 

1863
February 5 Created with four companies under the command of Major James W. Sweeney of Wheeling. Assigned to the Cavalry Brigade, Department of Western Virginia. There was a serious shortage of weapons and equipment.
May-August Assigned to Jenkins’s Brigade, Cavalry Division, Army of Northern Virginia. Company F of the 14th Virginia Cavalry Regiment was transferred in as Company E during this time.
June 13-15
Second Battle of Winchester

The battalion made two charges at opequon Creek, losing four men killed, several wounded and two captured. Major Sweeney was wounded and taken to the hospital at Lexington. He refused to let the doctors amputate his arm, holding them off with his pistol. Sweeney survived. Captain Cornelius Thomas Smith of Company A took over the battalion while Sweeney recovered.
June 18 The battalion crossed the Potomac at Williamsport. Company D was detached to guard the crossing.
June 28-29 Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
July 1-3
Battle of Gettysburg

The battalion brought 125 men to the field. (Company D was still detached).

From the monument to Jenkins’s Brigade at Gettysburg:

July 3. The Brigade had been with Ewell’s Corps but rejoined the Cavalry Division here on this day about noon. It was armed with Enfield Rifles but an oversight brought to this field only about ten rounds of ammunition. While this lasted it was actively engaged mainly on foot as sharpshooters around and in front of the Rummel Barn and outhouses. It was withdrawn from the field at an early hour in the evening.
July 4-16
Retreat to Virginia

The battalion helped cover the withdrawal of Lee’s army to Virginia. Six men were captured near Waterloo, and others were captured or wounded at Williamsport. Captain Edwin Zane was mortally wounded. The battalion was one of the last Confederate units to recross the Potomac.
August 10 Fifty men deserted near Culpeper Court House. Most were rounded up and returned to the ranks.
September After patrolling between McDowell and Stanton the battalion was returned to the Kanawha Valley.
October-November Moved to Abingdon and assigned to Jones’s Brigade, Ransom’s Division, Department of Southwest Virginia and East Tennessee.
October 22 The battalion moved into Tennessee. The battalion was poorly equipped and clothed, and endured serious hardships in the winter campaigning.
November-December
Siege of Knoxville

Assigned to Jones’s Cavalry Brigade, Ransom’s Division, Department of East Tennessee.
November 6 Rogersville
December-January Assigned to Jones’s Cavalry Brigade, Ransom’s Division, Department of Southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee.
December 29 The battalion, with Jones’s Brigade, returned to Virginia.
1864
January-February Assigned to Jones’s Cavalry Brigade, Department of East Tennessee.
January 3 Attacked a Federal cavalry force at Jonesville, capturing 383 men, then returned to Little War Gap, Tennessee.
February-March Assigned to Jones’s Brigade, Cavalry, Department of East Tennessee.
February 3 The brigade attacked a Federal camp, capturing 256 men and a large amount of clothing and blankets.
February  Assistant Adjutant General Archer Anderson inspected the brigade at Bristol, Tennessee and reported the battalion mustered 184 officers and men, with over 150 others absent without leave. There were not enough rifles and many that they had were rusty. Many men were missing shoes and blankets.
February 22 Gibson’s and Wyerman’s Mills, Indian Creek
March-April Assigned to Jones’s Brigade, Jones’s Division, Cavalry Corps, Department of East Tennessee.
April-May Assigned to Jones’s Brigade, Cavalry, Department of East Tennessee.
May-June Assigned to Jones’s-B.T. Johnson’s Cavalry Brigade, Department of Southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee.
June 5
Battle of Piedmont
June
Lynchburg Campaign

Assigned to B.T. Johnson’s Cavalry Brigade, Ransom’s-Lomax’s Cavalry Division, Army of the Valley District.
July 9
Battle of Monocacy

Major Sweeney rejoined the battalion before the battle.
July 29 Crossed the Potomac at McCoy’s Ferry, driving back a force on Federal cavalry and reaching Mercersburg by late afternoon. The men ate and rested the horses, then started for Chambersburg in the early evening. 
July 30
Burning of Chambersburg

The battalion entered the town in the early morning. After the citizens refused to pay a ransom (100,000 in gold or $500,000 in greenbacks) 278 houses and businesses were burned, along with 98 barns. The Confederates then withdrew to Hancock, Cumberland, and eventually to Moorefield.
August 7
Battle of Moorfield

Federal troops in Confederate clothes infiltrated the camp and captured the picketts, allowing a surprise attack on the camp by the main Federal force. The battalion lost 18 men captured.
September 19
Third Battle of Winchester
September 22
Battle of Fisher’s Hill
October 19
Battle of Cedar Creek
November-December

Assigned to Payne’s Brigade, Rosser’s Cavalry Division, Army of the Valley.

When Payne’s Brigade was ordered from southwest Virginia to move east to the fighting around Richmond the survivors of the battalion refused to go. Major Sweeney took the remnants of the battalion, about 70 men, to Lewisburg. All of the battalion’s surviving captains (two had been killed) and Adjutant William Waller were in Federal prison camps. 
1865
February-April Assigned to Witcher’s Command, Department of Western Virginia and East Tennessee
mid-April The battalion disbanded.