While there were Confederate regiments which garnered more fame than the 42nd Virginia Infantry, few represent so well the trials and triumphs which characterized the experiences of the common soldier throughout the War Between the States.

One of 10 companies recruited for the 42nd, the men of Company "K" came from towns and villages of Franklin County. They enlisted at Rocky Mount, and mustered into service at Lynchburg in July, 1861. The Regiment’s initial strength was 867 officers and men.

1861

One week after mustering, the 42nd, was assigned to the Army of the Northwest under the command of Brigadier General W.W. Loring. In September, the 42nd arrived at Cheat Mountain in time to participate in a poorly organized and short lived offensive. While suffering only one battle fatality, nearly half the Regiment reported sick, suffering from the effects of the march, poor rations, measles, diarrhea, and what one soldier characterized as "32 days of rain in the month of August." In December, the regiment was reassigned to Major General Thomas J. Jackson’s division at Winchester.

1862

To protect the Shenandoah Valley, Jackson led the army north toward Bath in January. On March 23, 1862, Jackson’s Valley campaign began with the Battle of Kernstown. While the battle turned out to be one of Jackson’s only defeats, the 42nd performed so well that it earned the praise of Jackson himself, who said that the men had "proved themselves worthy of the cause they were defending."

The 42nd had little time to rest on their newly won laurels. As part of Campbell’s Brigade, they fought a quick succession of engagements: A sharp skirmish at Edenburg (April 2), the Battle of McDowell (May 8), another skirmish near Franklin (May 10), the Battle of Front Royal (May 23), and Winchester (May 25). For several more days, the Regiment marched at a grueling pace, acting as Jackson’s rear guard. After a two-day rest near Port Republic, they moved towards Cross Keys, where, on June 8, the 42nd repulsed a Union force led by John C. Fremont. The following day, the 42nd marched to reinforce Jackson at Port Republic, arriving on the battlefield after Jackson had already defeated the Union forces.

Ordered to assist General Robert E. Lee’s defense of Richmond, the regiment entered the Seven Days Campaign. On June 27 they arrived at Gaines Mill, only to find the enemy already driven from the field. For the next several days, the 42nd pursued the retreating Yankees on Lee’s left flank to no avail. By July 1, they arrived at the Battle of Malvern Hill too late to participate in the engagement.

Jackson’s army marched northwest to thwart a Union advance near Culpepper Court House. Jackson’s forces met those of General Pope on August 9th at Cedar Mountain. Fighting was intense as Confederate forces were deployed over the irregular terrain. Though losses were heavy for many units, the 42nd suffered more casualties than the total for any one brigade. Still, the Confederates held the field, or as was the case with Company K, dominated it. Accompanied by only two enlisted men, company commander Captain Samuel Saunders captured eighty Yankees.

Bolstered by these successes, Lee marched north towards Washington. On August 27, Jackson captured the Union supply depot at Manassas Junction. While most of the division feasted on the spoils, the 42nd spent the day on picket duty. They rejoined their gluttonous comrades on August 29 in time to be in the thick of the fray at the Battle of Second Manasses. Holding a railroad bed nicknamed "Deep Cut," the 42nd ran out of ammunition and resorted to throwing stones to keep the enemy at bay.

By September, Lee was initiating an invasion of Maryland. Jackson laid siege to the town of Harper’s Ferry, capturing the Federal garrison there on September 16. The following day, the 42nd moved towards Sharpsburg to join Lee’s repulse of the Army of the Potomac. The regiment was positioned near the West Woods and engaged in some of the heaviest fighting of the war. While casualty reports are sketchy, post-war accounts estimate regimental casualties at 48%. Having lost the initiative, Lee’s army re-crossed the Potomac River to Virginia.

On November 21 the Regiment marched from Winchester to Fredericksburg to oppose General Ambrose Burnside’s attempted crossing of the Rappahannock River. The 42nd was held in reserve during the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 13, but participated in heavy skirmishing the following day. On December 16, the 42nd moved into winter camp at Moss Neck, south of Fredericksburg, only to find their baggage stolen.

1863

After rest and re-supply at their winter encampment, the Regiment was called upon to help check General Joseph Hooker’s advance at Chancellorsville. Marching with Jackson around the Union flank on May 2, the Regiment took part in some of the battle’s fiercest fighting. Subsequently, 29 men of the 42nd were cited for heroism (men who, interestingly enough, were classified as AWOL before and after the battle).

In June, Lee launched his second invasion of the North. The 42nd reached Gettysburg on July 1, and was deployed as scouts on Culp’s Hill that evening. For the next two days they took part in repeated and costly attempts to capture the hill before falling back toward Hagerstown on July 4. Badly mauled, the brigade re-crossed the Potomac River into Virginia on July 13, leaving behind Company K’s fallen including company commander Captain Jack Taliaferro.

Battle Flag of the 42nd Virginia

1864

By the end of October, the brigade was camped near Mount Pisgah Church in Orange County. As part of Johnson’s division, the 42nd responded to crossings of the Rapidan River by General George Meade’s forces on November 26. Heavy fighting ensued the next day at Payne’s Farm. Though the 42nd suffered heavy losses, they were reported to have fought well. Shaken by the repulse, Meade retreated across the river, and the 42nd returned to winter quarters to be better clad but more poorly fed than the previous winter.

The 42nd broke winter camp on May 2, 1864, and proceeded toward a desolate spot known as the Wilderness. As part of Ewell’s Corps, the regiment took up position on the south side of the Orange Turnpike. Shortly before 1:00 P.M., the regiment was hit hard by the 83rd Pennsylvania. The Regiment was driven back beyond supporting forces in some disorder after the death their Brigade commander General John M. Jones.

Responding to General Ulysses S. Grant’s flanking movement toward Richmond, the Regiment entrenched near Spotsylvania Court House in a large salient known as "the Mule Shoe," (later known as "Bloody Angle"). On May 12, the 42nd was overrun by a massed Union assault on the Mule Shoe. Casualties and captives were so numerous that Johnson’s division ceased to exist. The 42nd lost not only its battle flag but also so many men that the Regiment was now the size of a company. The loss of colors and combatants was not the worst of it. Loss of morale partially explains the uncharacteristic behavior of the remnants of the 42^nd a week later when they ran from battle during an engagement at Harris’ Farm.

On May 21, 1864, what remained of the 42^nd, along with the remnants of twelve other regiments, were assigned to Brigadier General William Terry’s Consolidated Brigade of Gordon’s Division. The division was next engaged near Bethesda Church.

In an attempt to relieve pressure on the beleaguered lines around Richmond and Petersburg, General Jubal A. Early led Gordon’s division and the Second Corps into the Shenandoah Valley in June. Early’s force drove the Yankees from Lynchburg on June 18 and marched down the valley, recapturing

Harper’s Ferry on July 6. Advancing east, Early’s men routed a Union force at Monacacy, Maryland, on July 9, and approached Fort Stevens on the outskirts of Washington’s defenses by July 11. Alarmed by this advance so close to the capital, Grant moved two corps from Richmond to drive Early back up the Shenendoah. The 42nd fought yet another succession of Valley engagements: Leesburg on July 16, Castleman’s Ferry on July 18, and a stunning victory at Kernstown on July 24.

During the next several weeks, the 42nd was involved in frequent skirmishes up and down the Valley against the army of Phil Sheridan, culminating in the retreat of the Confederate Second Corps at Opequon Creek on September 19 and the rout of Early’s entire army at Fisher’s Hill on the 22nd. Early regrouped, and by October 19 succeeded in pushing back Sheridan’s army at Cedar Creek. Having received no adequate supplies for months, the Union bounty from the overrun camps proved irresistible. So many Confederate troops stopped to pillage supplies from the richly stocked enemy tents that Union forces were able regroup and rout Early’s army. By mid November, Gordon’s division boarded a train bound for Petersburg. The 42nd remained entrenched and inactive at Burgess’ Mill for the remainder of 1864 and January 1865.

1865

After a three-day encounter with the enemy near Armstrong’s Mill in early February, the Second Corps went back into the trenches at Petersburg and did not emerge again until March 25, when it succeeded in capturing Fort Stedman for several hours until the unsupported assault was repulsed by overwhelming numbers of Union troops. After General Ulysses S. Grant’s assault on Five forks and the collapse of the Confederate right flank on April 2, the 42nd fled Petersburg along with what remained of the Army of Northern Virginia. By April 8, the Second Corps reached Appomattox Court House. Surrounded, starving, and decimated, twelve men under the command of Lieutenant James Thomkins were all that remained of the 42nd fit for active duty. The condition of the 42nd being representative of the Army of Northern Virginia, Lee surrendered on April 9. A total of 58 officers and men of the 42nd were paroled at Appomattox Court House.

Secession had exacted a heavy toll from the men of the 42nd Virginia. Of the 1,461 men who had served in the Regiment, 179 were killed in action, 192 died from disease and unspecified causes, 445 were wounded in battle, and 3 were executed. In addition, of the 509 men captured, 75 men died in Federal prisons.

*John Chapla's 42nd Virginia Infantry contains a more detailed history of the 42nd Virginia and was a major source for the history above.

For more information about the 42nd Va., Co. K of the R.A.C.W., please contact

Capt. Norm Fox

"Sic Semper Tyrannis"

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