24th Virginia Infantry was assembled in June, 1861, with men from Floyd, Franklin, Carroll, Giles, Pulaski, Mercer, and Henry Counties. It served under Early at First Manassas, then was assigned to Early’s, Kemper’s, and W.R. Terry’s Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia. The 24th participated in the campaigns of the army from Williamsburg to Gettysburg except when it was detached to Suffolk with Longstreet. Later it was involved in the engagements at Plymouth and Drewry’s Bluff, the Petersburg siege north of the James River, and the Appomattox operations.

The regiment contained 740 men in April, 1862, and reported 189 casualties at Williamsburg and 107 at Seven Pines. It lost 4 killed, 61 wounded, and 14 missing at Frayser’s Farm, had 8 wounded at Fredericksburg, and had about forty percent of the 395 engaged at Gettysburg disabled. Many were lost at Sayler’s Creek with no officers and 22 men surrendered on April 9, 1865.

The field officers were Colonels Jubal A. Early and William A. Terry; Lieutenant Colonels Peter Hairston, Jr. and Richard L. Maury; and Majors William W. Bentley, Joseph A. Hambrick, and J.P. Hammet.

[Source: National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System]

West Virginia counties contributing soldiers: Mercer 

24th Virginia Infantry – National Park Service

24th Virginia Infantry – The Civil War in the East

24th Virginia Infantry, Virginia Regimental History Series, by Ralph White Gunn, H.E. Howard Publishing, 1987.

24th Virginia Infantry, Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia, by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 204-205, entry #351.

24th Virginia Infantry, A Guide to Virginia’s Military Organizations, 1861-1865, by Lee A. Wallace, Jr., pp. 107.