1st West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment (3 Year)

The 1st West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service record

The second incarnation of the 1st West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was mustered in for three year's service on October 30 at Wheeling, Virginia. It was known as the 1st Virginia until West Virginia became a state. Among the more notable members was the chaplain, James McCook, a member of the famed Fighting McCooks. Most of the early recruits were from neighboring Ohio. An analysis of the regiment by the George Tyler Moore Center in Shepherdstown, West Virginia shows that it was composed of 39% native West Virginians, while 23% were from Ohio, 18% Pennsylvania, 11% were immigrants and 8% were from other U.S. states. George Tyler Moore Center

Following the expiration of the original three-year term of enlistment, veterans of the regiment who chose to re-enlist were amalgamated with the 5th West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment on October 10, 1864, to form the 2nd West Virginia Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment.

Casualties

The 1st West Virginia suffered 3 officers and 51 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded in battle and 2 officers and 136 enlisted men dead from disease for a total of 192 fatalities.

Colonels

• Benjamin Franklin Kelley
• William H. Enochs

References

• The Civil War Archive

See also

• West Virginia Units in the Civil war
• 1st West Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment (3 Month)
• 1st West Virginia Veteran Volunteer Infantry Regiment
• West Virginia in the Civil War