4th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry

compiled by Larry Stevens

References for this Unit

• see also Bibliography of State-Wide References
• Ohio In The War-Volume II. Whitelaw Reid. Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin. Cincinnati 1868
• Autobiography of Dr. Thomas H. Barton. Including a history of the Fourth Regt. West Va. Vol. Inf'y, with an account of Col. Lightburn's retreat down the Kanawaha Valley, Gen. Grant's Vicksburg and Chattanooga campaigns, together with the several battles in which the Fourth regiment was engaged, and its losses by disease, desertion and in battle. Thomas H. Barton. West Virginia Printing Co. Charleston. West Virginia. 1890. Located at State Library of Ohio. Columbus. Ohio
• Loyal West Virginia from 1861 to 1865....Theodore F. Lang. Deutsch. Baltimore. 1895. A roster of officers and regimental history. Call# E536L27. USAMHI. Carlisle Barracks. PA. Also reprinted by Blue Acorn Press P.O. Box 2684 Huntington, West Virginia 25726. 1998. ISBN: 1885033192
• The Retreat of the Union Forces From the Kanawha Valley in 1862. John L. Vance. Sketches of War History. Ohio. MOLLUS. Vol. 4. Cincinnati. OH. Robert Clarke. 1896. pgs. 118-32. 8 photocopied pages. E464M5.1991v4. USAMHI. Carlisle Barracks. PA
• Brown Family Collection. Athens County Ohio Family. Contains letters written by William Van Brown, 4th West Virginia, during the Civil War. Call# MSS18. Ohio University Archives & Special Collections. Alden Library. 5th Floor. Athens. Ohio. 45701-2978
• Unit Bibliography. U.S. Army Military History Institute. Carlisle Barracks. PA. 1995
• 4th West Virginia Infantry Page. From West Virginia in the Civil War. 1997
• 4th West Virginia Infantry Monument. Vicksburg National Military Park. 3201 Clay Street. Vicksburg. MS. 39180. 1998

Colonel Jas. H. Dayton 
4th West Virginia Infantry
Courtesy of and Copyright © L.M. Strayer Collection

History

This regiment, although mustered into the service as a Virginia unit, was indebted to Ohio for seven full compaies, recruited in Meigs, Gallia, Lawrence and Athens counties.

From: The Military History of Ohio. H.H. Hardesty

From Dyer's Compendium

4th Regiment West Virginia Infantry. Organized at Mason City, Point Pleasant and Grafton, W. Va., June 17 to August 22, 1861. Served unattached, District of the Kanawha, W. Va., to March, 1862. 4th Brigade, Kanawha Division, West Virginia, to September, 1862. Point Pleasant, W. Va., District of the Kanawha, W. Va., Dept. of the Ohio, to January, 1863. 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 15th Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee, to October, 1863. 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 15th Army Corps, to May, 1864. 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, West Virginia, to December, 1864.
SERVICE.--Skirmish at Grafton, W. Va., August 13, 1861 (Co. "A"). Moved up the Kanawha Valley August 22. Operations in the Kanawha Valley and New River Region October 19-November 16. Mill Creek Mills October 26. At Ceredo till January, 1862. March to Louisa Court House and operating with Garfield in operations against Humphrey Marshall in Eastern Kentucky January, 1862. March up the Kanawha Valley to join Gen. Cox April 3. At Flat Top Mountain till August. Operations about Wyoming Court House August 2-8. Wyoming Court House August 5 (Cos. "H" and "I"). Beech Creek August 6. Campaign in the Kanawha Valley September 2-16. Repulse of Loring's attack on Fayetteville September 10. Cotton Hill and Charlestown September 11. Gauley Ferry September 11. Gauley Bridge September 12. Charlestown September 12-13. At Point Pleasant till October 19. Bulltown, Braxton County, October 3. Salt Lick Bridge October 14. Expedition up the Kanawha Valley to Charlestown October 21-November 10. At Fayetteville till December 30. Ordered to Napoleon, Ark., thence to Young's Point, La., January 21, 1863, and duty there till March. Expedition to Rolling Fork via Muddy, Steele's and Black Bayous and Deer Creek March 14-27. At Milliken's Bend till April. Expedition to Black Bayou April 5-10. Demonstration against Haines and Drumgould's Bluffs April 29-May 2. Moved to join army in rear of Vicksburg, Miss., via Richmond and Grand Gulf May 2-14. Siege of Vicksburg, Miss., May 18-July 4. Assaults on Vicksburg May 19 and 22. Surrender of Vicksburg July 4. Advance on Jackson, Miss., July 5-10. Siege of Jackson July 10-17. At Big Black River till September 26. Moved to Memphis, Tenn., thence march to Chattanooga, Tenn., September 26-November 20. Operations on Memphis & Charleston Railroad in Alabama October 20-29. Brier Creek, Tuscumbia, October 27. Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23-27. Tunnel Hill November 23-24. Mission Ridge November 25. Pursuit to Graysville November 26-27. March to relief of Knoxville, Tenn., November 28-December 8. Regiment reenlisted February 3, 1864, and Veterans on furlough March 15 to May 3. Joined Hunter at Cedar Creek, W. Va., May. Hunter's Expedition to Lynchburg, Va., May 26-July 1. Piedmont, Mt. Crawford, June 5. Occupation of Staunton June 6. Lynchburg June 17-18. Retreat to Martinsburg June 18-July 1. Moved to the Shenandoah Valley, Snicker's Gap, July 17-18. Kernstown or Winchester July 24. Shenandoah Valley Campaign August-September. Berryville September 3. At Stephenson's Depot till December. Moved to Cumberland, Md. Consolidated with 1st West Virginia Infantry December 21, 1864, to form 2nd West Virginia Veteran Infantry (which see). Regiment lost during service 3 Officers and 80 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 2 Officers and 156 Enlisted men by disease. Total 241.

2nd Regiment West Virginia Veteran Infantry. Organized December 10, 1864, by consolidation of 1st and 4th West Virginia Infantry. Attached to Reserve Division, Dept. of West Virginia, to April, 1865. 2nd Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, West Virginia, to July, 1865. On duty at Cumberland, Md., and at Bulltown, Braxton County, W. Va. Mustered out July 16, 1865. Regiment lost during service 1 Enlisted man killed and 16 Enlisted men by disease. Total 17.

More about the Civil War in Ohio.

Copyright © 1995 Larry Stevens

Last updated July 7 2011