The Seven Day's Battles around Richmond

From Yorktown, the Third Virginia, along with the rest of General Longstreet's Division, moved toward Richmond to defend the capital from advancing Union forces. Beginning on May 31, 1862, the Division fought five battles in quick succession: Seven Pines, Mechanicsville, Gaines Farm, Cold Harbor (First) and Frasier's Farm. At Frasier's Farm, the Third Virginia suffered their first heavy casualties: out of 65 combat troops in the Dismal Swamp Rangers, for example, the company saw ten killed and twelve wounded. In fact, Longstreet's entire Division was so badly mauled in the first five battles that they were held in reserve during the last of the Seven Day's Battles, at Malvern Hill.

Second Manassas

As the Division regained its numbers and strength with new recruits, Longstreet moved his men into Thoroughfare Gap where, on August 29, they defeated the Union forces assigned to keep them from joining Stonewall Jackson's Corps at Manassas.

On the following day, August 30, the armies of Jackson, Lee and Longstreet converged on General John Pope's Union forces. As the brigade moved into position, the ranks passed through a patch of woods and became misaligned. While they paused to straighten the lines, brigade commander General Pryor retired from the field and passed command to the Third Virginia's commander Colonel Mayo, leaving Major Urquhurt to lead the Third. During the realignment, the Third became separated from the rest of its brigade. Seeing General Pender's brigade coming up on its left, Urquhurt obtained permission to join Pender in the charge.

As the companies moved out of the woods, they came under heavy fire from the nearby Union artillery batteries. Despite the losses, the Third pressed forward and captured the Federal guns. John Yost of Company H, serving as regimental color bearer, was the first Confederate to reach the Union battery that day. After securing the guns, the Third Virginia turned the battery over to Pender's Brigade and rejoined their own brigade.

Sharpsburg (Antietam)

The Third Virginia saw action at Sharpsburg. This battle is still under research, but should be complete soon.

Fredericksburg

On November 10, 1862, a reorganization of Longstreet's command made the Third Virginia part of James Kemper's Brigade in General George Pickett's Division. In December, the newly-formed division moved to Fredericksburg, where they saw action at the end of the battle. As soon as they arrived, they were sent to relieve the weary Twenty-Fourth North Carolina at the stone wall in front of Marye's Heights, where they had been positioned for forty-eight hours.

Shortly after the Third Virginia had taken its place along the wall, Union General Ambrose Burnside ordered the final Federal charge on the heights. The fresh troops threw them back, and the battle ended in a resounding Union defeat with heavy casualties.

Following the battle, Pickett's Division was sent south with John Bell Hood's division, on a foraging expedition around Suffolk, Virginia. Upon hearing that 12,000 Confederate troops were moving into his area, Union General John Peck wired General Joseph Hooker for reinforcements. The action sent frontline Union troops to Suffolk to prepare defensive positions, weakening the Federal numbers in Northern Virginia. During their expedition south, Confederate forces succeeded in capturing Union supply trains before they moved back to join the Army of Northern Virginia.

Gettysburg

With summer, 1863, Lee's army struck north toward Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. Advancing through unfamiliar territory without reconnaissance from General Jeb Stuart's cavalry, the Confederate army, quite by accident, stumbled into Union forces near Gettysburg.

After two days of fighting, during which the Confederate army failed to dislodge General George Meade's Federal troops from their fortified positions, General Lee decided to make a full frontal assault on the center of the Union line. Pickett's Division, including the Third Virginia, was not part of the battle during the first two days of fighting. Pickett's troops came up during the night of the second day. Therefore, his division was chosen to lead the day's assault, since his men had only just arrived and were less fatigued than the divisions that had been in action.

After a cannonade that lasted between ninety minutes and two hours and proved to be the largest artillery exchange in history to that date, the Confederate forces advanced across a mile of open field, exposed to Federal artillery fire at all times. Confederate artillery stopped firing their barrages out of fear of firing short and hitting their own men, but the Union batteries continued throughout the Confederate advance.

After the battle and even years afterward, witnesses, especially those on the Union side, remarked how orderly the advance was made, with special praise reserved for Pickett's Division, including the Third Virginia. The Confederate forces never broke ranks and ran, but paused now and then under constant fire to reform their lines.

Company A of the Third Virginia, under command of Captain Tom Hodges, was deployed as skirmishers ahead of Pickett's Division, moving about a hundred yards in front of the advancing troops. When the division paused for the last time before the final assault at the Emmitsburg Road, Company A had pushed back the Union skirmish line and rejoined the regiment. At that point, the division was within range of Union muskets. The Confederates reformed their lines, returned fire once, and continued forward in the face of withering fire.

By the time Pickett's Division reached the Federal position at the stone wall, all semblance of military order was gone. In the Confederate mob, companies were intermingled and command structure had broken down, as many of the officers fell dead or wounded. Vicious fighting continued as the Third Virginia fought hand-to-hand with the Seventy-First Pennsylvania. Suddenly, in the midst of the fighting, a Union officer in a splendid blue uniform rode down the field behind the Federal line. As a soldier from Company A raised his rifle to fire on the exposed officer, Colonel Mayo stopped him, since he was not part of the fighting and it would have been an unworthy act. Later, Third Virginia survivors learned that they had spared Union General Hancock.

Pickett's Division advanced about fifteen yards past the Union line and captured three of four guns in a Union artillery battery. They moved steadily forward, until the fourth gun, loaded with double canister, blasted directly into their ranks and stopped the advance. Still, the troops held on for fifteen or twenty minutes, but in the face of Union reinforcements and with no relief from their own lines, the Confederates were forced to retire.

Colonel Mayo of the Third Virginia had been wounded in the fighting. He gave command to Captain Hodges, saying, "Tom, get what men you can back." Having ordered Hodges to organize the Third Virginia's retreat from the field, he began to leave, but was stopped by General James Kemper's orderly, with the news that Kemper had been captured and Generals Garnett and Armistead killed, leaving Colonel Mayo the only ranking officer on the field.

Despite his wounds, Colonel Mayo returned to the fight, took over brigade command, and led the troops back across the field. During the hand-to-hand fighting with the Seventy-First Pennsylvania, the Third Virginia lost its battle flag to the Federals, the only time it ever lost a flag in battle, although seven color-bearers were lost in the advance. The Third Virginia also lost nearly half of its men at Gettysburg, although, remarkably, Company A survived with no fatalities.

As the soldiers retreated, General Lee ordered General Pickett to "form your division on Seminary Ridge." With tears in his eyes, General Pickett answered, "Sir, I have no division."

Late War Action

After Gettysburg, The Third Virginia was never the same. Many of the soldiers who survived the battle but were captured ended their lives in the prison camp at Point Lookout, Maryland. The remnants of Pickett's Division was sent into North Carolina, where the Third Virginia fought the Battle of Plymouth and took part in capturing Little Washington.

Ordered back into Virginia in 1864, the Third Virginia was assigned to guard against cavalry raids at Belfield (now part of the city of Emporia), before being detailed to defend Richmond from General Grant's encroaching advance. The armies stalemated around Petersburg. During the siege, the Third Virginia fought at Cold Harbor, Turkey Ridge, Drury's Bluff and Chester Station.

On March 31, 1865, on the far right of the extended Confederate line, Pickett's Division defeated General William T. Sherman's cavalry. The next day, at Five Forks and, with Pickett away from his command, the entire division was caught in a trap and nearly annihilated. The survivors of the engagement, including survivors from the Third Virginia, went on to fight at Saylor's Creek and Farmville in April, and were present at General Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House. Of the original 1,010 men of the Third Virginia, only 53 enlisted men and 6 officers were present, with Captain Tom Hodges of Company A commanding.

Battles Fought