The Men of 13th Virginia

The Forming.
The History of the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiments starts officially on May 9th 1861, when the Regiment was organized into Virginia state service at Harpers Ferry. At the time the state of Virginia included what is now known as the state of West Virginia, which later was to have some effect on the Regiment in 1863, when the western part of Virginia was accepted into the Union as West Virginia. On July 1st 1861 the Regiment was accepted into Confederate service.


The Companies.
The Regiment was composed of companies from neighboring counties, as was all Virginia Regiments if possible. The companies of the 13th came from the north central and northwestern regions of Virginia. Orange County provided companies A, C, and F. From adjoining Culpeper County came companies B and E. Neighboring Winchester County furnished company H and Louisa County came with company D. Hampshire County provided two companies I and K. Company G was raised by Southern sympathizers in Maryland.

The original Companies B and E did not serve throughout the war, but was mustered out in November 1861 and January 1862, due to their period of service had expired. In March 1862 two new companies B and E was formed in Culpeper County and mustered into the Regiment.

Company G was dismissed in 1862 as a result of the Conscription Act, because the members was nonresidents of the Confederate States being Marylanders.  


Regimental organization and strength.
A standard regiment consisted of 10 companies of about 100 men each.

Each Company consisted of line officers, non-commissioned officers (Sergeants and Corporals) and the soldiers (Privates). The commanding Officer of a Company was a Captain, with two other officers to assist him: a 1st Lieutenant and a 2nd Lieutenant.

In addition to the companies came the field officers and staff, i.e. Colonel (the Commanding Officer of the Regiment), Lieutenant Colonel (Second in Command), Major, Adjutant, Quartermaster, Chaplain, Surgeon or Assistant Surgeon, Sergeant Major, Ordnance Sergeant, Quartermaster Sergeant, Hospital Stewards, Musicians etc.

All of this amounted to a little over a 1000 men, if the Regiment was up to full strength, which allmost never was the case in either the Confederate or the Union Armies. In fact after the first serious battle, all regiments would never again reach the orginal strength for the rest of the war.

The 13th Virginia never put a 1000 men in the field. The highest number was 550, which was the regimental strength from the time of acceptance into Virginia state service (May 1861) and untill shortly after the first major battle at 1st Manassas (July 1861). Upon entering the battle of Gaines Mill of the Peninsular Campaign the number was down to 250. During this battle the 13th alone suffered a further 111 casualties. At the time of the battles of Sharpsburg and Gettysburg the regiment was down to an all time low of around 90 men.

The Confederate Army asked in February 1864 its soldiers to re-enlist for the remainder of the war. The Roster after the re-enlistment showed 314 men. This number, however, only lasted for a couple of months. After the Wilderness and Spotsylvania Campaigns the Roster again showed around 100 men, which was the average strength of the 13th for the rest of the war. The Regiment was present at Appomattox with 63 men.
 

Regimental Strength - Date/Numer/Place

Date         Number       Place/Event

Ca. May 1861 550 Harper's Ferry

July 21st, 1861 550 1st Manassas

June 27th, 1862 250 Gaines' Mill

September 17th, 1862 less than 100 Sharpsburg

July 30th, 1863ca. 90  Post-Gettysburg

February 18th, 1864 314  Re-enlistment

May 5th, 1864 257  Wilderness

May 31st, 1864 96  Post-Bethesda Church

September 19th, 1864 118 Winchester

September 30th, 1864 93 Near Waynesboro

December 1864 90 Petersburg

March 25th, 1865 120  Fort Stedman

April 9th, 1865 63 Appomattox Court House

What happened to the men of the 13th during the Civil War ?
A total of 1537 men served in the 13th Virginia Infantry Regiment during the war, either by enlistment or because of being conscripted.

What happened to all these men? Not all died because of battle-action. The great killer in the Civil War was diseases, which caused two thirds of all deaths during the Civil War. In total the 13th’s battle casualties amounted to 645.

• Of the 1537 men 7 % died in battle.

• Records show 4 % died because of diseases.

• 23 % was discharged. Many because of physical disability. Another reason the high number was the Conscription Act of 1862, which send home many soldiers under the age of 18 and over age 35, and also resulted in the loss of Company G from Maryland. Furthermore the first men in the Companies B and E was discharged due to their period of service had expired.

• Desertion (16 %) was also hard on the numbers of the 13th, as it was throughout the armies of the Civil War. The reasons were many, e.g. worries about the survival/safety of the family; conscripted against personal beliefs; the discovery that war was far from glory; disillusion taking over from the initial patriotism, few possibilities of obtaining furlough etc.

• Transfers to other units amounted only to 3 %, although a "Cavalry-fever" burned in the 13th for a long time, which caused a great many wishes for the 13th to become a Cavalry Regiment.

• 1 % resigned of which some went to the Invalid Corps due to unfitness for active duty.

• Around 13 % was taken prisoners from after spring 1864. Of these 1 % died in captivity. Prisoners taken prior to spring 1864 was generally exchanged and thus most returned to their Regiment.

• 4 % was present at Appomattox.

Because of incomplete Roster records the above mentioned numbers only covers 72 % of all the men of the 13th. For the rest it can be assumed, that a combination of being taken prisoners, simply walking away at the end of the war, or being discharged will cover some of the missing 28 %.

As many of the soldiers’ records stop abruptly after noting that the man was hospitalized or furloughed ill. It can with certainty be assumed, that many of these men died of diseases than the actual 4 % mentioned above.

"Not for fame or reward, not for place or rank,
not lured by ambition or goaded by necessity,
but in simple obedience to duty as they understood it,
these men suffered all, dared all, - and died"