Unit History – 19th Virginia Infantry

Organized at Manassas Junction, Virginia, in May, 1861, contained men recruited at Charlottesville and in the counties of Albemarle, Nelson, and Amherst. It fought at First Manassas under General Cocke, then was assigned to General Pickett’s, Garnett’s, and Hunton’s Brigade. The 19th participated in the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia from Williamsburg to Gettysburg except when it was with Longstreet at Suffolk. Later it served in North Carolina, returned to Virginia, and was active at Drewry’s Bluff and Cold Harbor. Continuing the fight, it was engaged in the Petersburg siege north of the James River and the Appomattox Campaign. It reported 6 casualties at First Manassas and in April, 1862, totalled 650 effectives. The regiment had 138 casualties during the Seven Days’ Battles and lost forty-two percent of the 150 in the Maryland Campaign and more than forty-five percent of the 328 engaged Gettysburg. Many were captured at Sayler’s Creek, and only 1 officer and 29 men surrendered. The field officers were Colonels P. St. George Cocke, Henry Gantt, Armistead T. M. Rust, and John B. Strange; Lieutenant Colonels John T. Ellis, Charles S. Peyton, and Bennett Taylor; and Majors Waller M. Boyd and William Watts.

From Joseph H. Crute, Jr., Units of the Confederate States Army, pp. 369-370