Service 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 broadsides 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 who was 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 (Flags of the Second Corps) 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.

For re-enlisting, the men received veteran furloughs that entitled them to visit home for 30 days. However, they voluntarily elected to delay their furloughs to stay and fight with the brigade for the diversionary action at Morton's Ford in early February 1964.