7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment

United States Regiments & Batteries  * West Virginia

The 7th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment lost 9 officers and 133 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 4 officers and 154 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War. It is honored by a monument on the Gettysburg battlefield.

1861
July 16-
December 3		 Organized at Portland, Cameron, Grafton, Wheeling, Morgantown and Greenland, Virginia under Colonel James Evans. Moved to Romney, Virginia, and duty there attached to Railroad District, West Virginia
October 26 Skirmish at Romney, Mill Creek Mills
1862
January 6-7 Expedition to Blue’s Gap
January 7 Hanging Rock, Blue’s Gap
January At Paw Paw Tunnel
January Attached to 1st Brigade, Landers’ Division, Army Potomac
March 4-15 Advance on Winchester. Attached to 1st Brigade, Shields’ 2nd Division, Banks’ 5th Army Corps and Dept. of the Shenandoah
March 23
Battle of Winchester
March 25 Cedar Creek
April 1 Woodstock
April 2 Edenburg
April 16 Columbia Furnace
April 4 Attached to 1st Brigade, 2nd Division, Department of the Shenandoah
April 17 Occupation of Mt. Jackson
May 12-22 March to Fredericksburg, Va. Attached to 1st Brigade, Shields’ Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock
May 15 Ravenswood
May 25-30 March to Front Royal
May 30 Front Royal
June 3-7 Expedition to Luray. Attached to Kimball’s Independent Brigade, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac
June 8-9 Forced march to Port Republic
June 9 Battle of Port Republic (Reserve)
June 29 Moved to Alexandria
June 30-July 2 To Harrison’s Landing
July 3-5 Haxall’s, Herring Creek, Chickahominy Swamp
August 2 Colonel Evans resigned due to illness. Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan Lockwood took temporary command of the regiment.
August 16-29 Moved to Alexandria, then to Centreville
August 22 Colonel Joseph Snider was appointed to command of the regiment.
August 29-30 Plains of Manassas
September 1 Germantown
September 6 Maryland Campaign. attached to 1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army Potomac
September 14
Battle of South Mountain
September 16-17
Battle of Antietam

Colonel Snider’s horse was killed under him as the regiment fought at the Sunken Road.

From the brigade marker on the Antietam battlefield at the Sunken Road:

Kimball’s Brigade, following Weber and Morris, encountered the enemy in the Bloody Lane and in the cornfield to the south.

The contest there was of the most desperate character, and continued until afternoon when, supported on the left by Richardson’s Division, the Brigade attacked the enemy and gained the Bloody Lane.

An attack on the right flank was made and repulsed by a change of front of the Ohio and Indiana Regiments, forming the right wing of the Brigade in its final assault on the enemy’s position.
September 22 Moved to Harper’s Ferry, W. Va.
October 1-2 Reconnaissance to Leesburg
October 30-November 18 Advance up Loudoun Valley and march to Falmouth, Va.
December 12-15 Battle of Fredericksburg
Colonel Snider was shot in the forehead.
December 16 Duty at Falmouth
1863
January 20-24 “Mud March”
January-April Duty at Falmouth
April 27-May 6 Chancellorsville Campaign
May 1-5
Battle of Chancellorsville

Colonel Snider was forced to leave the field, and Lieutenant Colonel Lockwood took over the regiment.
June 11 Gettysburg Campaign
July 1-3
Battle of Gettysburg

The regiment was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan H. Lockwood, who was wounded by “grapeshot” and whose horse was killed under him. It brought 319 men to the field, of whom 5 were killed, 41 wounded and 1 missing.

From the monument:

At dusk July 2nd Carroll’s Brigade was ordered by General Hancock to this point. On arriving there we found the Battery about to be taken charge of by the enemy who were in large force. Whereupon we immediately charged on the enemy and succeeded in completely routing their entire force and driving them beyond our lines.
July 5-24 Pursuit of Lee to Manassas Gap, Va.
July 31 The regiment was consolidated to a battalion of four companies due to casualties. Colonel Snider, still suffering from his Fredericksburg wound, mustered out as supernumerary due to the regiment’s reduced size. Lieutenant Colonel Jonathan H. Lockwood took command of the battalion.
August-September Duty on line of the Rappahannock
September 13-17 Advance from line of the Rappahannock to the Rapidan
October 9-22 Bristoe Campaign
October 14 Auburn and Bristoe
November 7-8 Advance to line of the Rappahannock
November 7 Kelly’s Ford
November 26-December 2 Mine Run Campaign
November 27 Robertson’s Tavern
November 28-30 Mine Run
1864
February 6-7 Demonstration on the Rapidan, Morton’s Ford
Lieutenant Colonel Lockwood was wounded in his right shoulder by shrapnel.
March Attached to 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps
May 3-June 15 Campaign from the Rapidan to the James
May 5-7
Battle of the Wilderness
May 8
Laurel Hill
May 8-21
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
May 10 Po River
May 12 Assault on the Salient or “Bloody Angle”

Lieutenant Colonel Lockwood was wounded in the head and partly paralyzed.
May 23-26 North Anna River
May 26-28 On line of the Pamunkey
May 28-31 Totopotomoy
June 1-12 Cold Harbor
June 16-18 Before Petersburg; Siege of Petersburg begins
June 22-23 Jerusalem Plank Road
July 27-29 Demonstration north of the James
July 27-28 Deep Bottom
August 13-20 Demonstration north of the James
August 14-18 Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom
August 25 Ream’s Station
September 29-October 1 Poplar Springs Church
October 1-3 Yellow House
October 27-28 Hatcher’s Run
December 7-12 Raid on Weldon Railroad
1865
February 5-7 Dabney’s Mills, Hatcher’s Run
March 25 Watkins’ House
March 28-April 9 Appomattox Campaign
March 30-31 Boydton and White Oak Roads
March 31 Crow’s House
April 2 Fall of Petersburg
April 6 Sailor’s Creek
April 7 Farmville and High Bridge
April 9 Clover Hill, Appomattox Court House. Surrender of Lee and his army.
May 1-12 March to Washington, D. C,
May 23 Grand Review
June Moved to Louisville, Ky.
July 1 Mustered out