The Seventh West Virginia Infantry can easily be placed upon the list as the banner regiment that served from the State during the war. This estimate is based upon the fact that it participated in a greater number of the larger battles fought during the war, and as having lost the greatest percent of killed and wounded. The regiment was organized August, 1861, with Lieut.-Col. John G. Kelley and Maj. Jonathan H. Lockwood as field officers. On November 9, 1861, James Evans was commissioned colonel, resigning August 2, 1862. Joseph Snider became colonel of the regiment, August 22, 1862.

It served in West Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley until May, 1862, when it was assigned to Kimball’s brigade, French’s division, Second Army Corps, and joined McClellan’s army at Harrison’s Landing, just after the battle of Malvern Hill. At Antietam, September, 1862, the regiment lost three officers and 26 enlisted men killed, and four officers and 112 enlisted men wounded; none missing. In that battle Colonel Snider and Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood had their horses killed under them. In Colonel Snider’s report of the battle he says: “The Confederates endeavored to deceive us by hoisting a white flag, which for a moment caused our men to cease firing, during which time the enemy was discovered to be moving in large force with the view of flanking our left, which caused us to change the position of our left wing, this being done as speedily as possible, when we succeeded in driving the enemy back with great slaughter beyond their original position, where we held them until our ammunition was exhausted. During the engagement our colors were shot down three times, but were promptly hoisted each time, and were brought off the field with the regiment.”

At Fredericksburg, Va., December, 1862, Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood in his report of the battle says: “General Kimball, commanding brigade, ordered the Seventh Regiment to form on the right of the brigade; the line thus formed consisted of the 7th West Virginia, 24th and 28th New Jersey and 14th Indiana. About 12 M. the entire line was put in motion, moving by the right flank. By order of Colonel Snider, I took command of the right wing. As soon as we had crossed the canal, I filed the head of the line to the right. Our line of battle being formed, we moved up briskly over a distance of some 80 rods, under a most galling fire from the enemy’s rifle pits and batteries in front, and a most terrible enfilading fire from his batteries on the right. Colonel Snider having been wounded, I assumed command and brought my regiment in good order on the line of the skirmishers, when, being in easy range of heavy forces of the enemy, concealed under good cover, my men suffered severely, but returned the enemy’s fire promptly and with effect. A flank movement being attempted on our right, Lieutenant-Colonel Sawyer and myself moved our men in that direction. Our orders were to hold the ground at all hazards, which we did for a long time, when our cartridges being exhausted, we stood for some time with fixed bayonets to dispute any charge or assault upon our position. We were also to hold ourselves in readiness to charge the enemy with bayonets so soon as a charge along the line commenced. Between 4 and 5 o’clock P M. we were withdrawn by order of Colonel Mason. Our loss in killed and wounded and missing was 51. Among the wounded I regret to mention Colonel Snider, Captain Watson, Lieutenant Detrick and Lieutenant Prickett. My officers and men behaved with admirable coolness and bravery, and deserve well of their country.”

At Gettysburg, July, 1863, the Seventh West Virginia, under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood, charged and drove back the Seventh Virginia (Confederate), wounding and capturing its colonel; also a Lieutenant Lockwood, a nephew of Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood, who was wounded. In addition to Colonel Lockwood, the regiment lost five killed and 40 wounded. At the battle of Chancellorsville, Va., which continued five days, beginning May 7, the Seventh Regiment was constantly in the battle line, Colonel Carroll in command of the brigade. On the 3d of May the brigade was ordered to form in line of battle, in an open field, fronting a wood, that lay between it and the enemy; the Seventh, under command of Colonel Snider, occupying a position on the left of the Fourth Ohio, and on the extreme left of the brigade. At 8 A. M., the entire line of the brigade was ordered to forward; it advanced into the wood, when it met the enemy advancing in large force towards our line, and when in close proximity to each other, the brigade opened on them with a volley of musketry that shook the ground they walked on. General Carroll immediately charged into them, putting them to flight, following them with a brisk fire, some of them falling dead, some wounded, while others threw down their arms, and throwing up their hands, ran into our lines, and many of them fell upon
their faces and lay still until our column passed over them, when they would jump up and say: “They were where they wanted to be.” In this advance, Carroll pursued them through the wood and beyond the Gordonsville plank road. The brigade captured in this charge 150 of the enemy, and recaptured a battalion of Zouaves, who had been surrounded by the enemy before our advance, also capturing a stand of colors belonging to the enemy. The Seventh Regiment occupying the enemy’s first line of works, they opened upon the regiment with canister and grape and a heavy enfilading fire, and forced the regiment to retire to the cover of the wood, where it held its position until Colonel Carroll ordered it to withdraw from the field. On the 4th inst., in consequence of severe illness, Colonel Snider and Major Morris had to retire from the front, leaving the command of the regiment with Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood.

On the 5th of May, the regiment recrossed the river at the United States Ford on pontoon bridges, and occupied its former camp. In this engagement the regiment lost one officer and two enlisted men killed, one officer and 16 men wounded.

Gen’l Alexander Hayes, commanding Third Division, Second Army Corps, in his report of the engagement at Morton’s Ford on the Rapidan on February 6, 1864, referring to the Seventh Regiment, says: ” I have neglectfully failed to call especial attention and notice to the conduct of the Seventh Regiment West Virginia Infantry, commanded by Lieut.-Col. J.H. Lockwood, of the First Brigade, distinguished always among the first and foremost in battle. They, with their gallant leader, had reenlisted for three years; the order for their return to their homes had been received and published; with a resolve to assist their old comrades in another day’s trial they marched with us and returned, bearing with them to their homes one commissioned officer and 10 enlisted men wounded.” Becoming much reduced in numbers, the Seventh Regiment was consolidated on September 5, 1863, into four companies, Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood in command. By reason of which consolidation Colonel Snider, with other officers, was mustered
out; Colonel Snider was then commissioned colonel of the Fourth West Virginia Cavalrv. Three new companies were added to the Seventh Battalion in March, 1865.

It will be doing a simple act of justice to state that Lieutenant-Colonel Lockwood was in command of the regiment much of the time from its original formation in 1861 to its final muster out.
As an acknowledgment of the splendid service rendered by the battalion, it was furnished, in 1864, with Henry rifles—16-shooters; being thus armed it invariably occupied the advance, and was almost constantly on the skirmish line. The regiment served continuously in the Army of the Potomac, after July, 1862. From the 1st of January, 1865, to the date of muster out it was incorporated in the Second Army Corps, and participated in all the engagements with that corps in the final campaign against Richmond, maintaining during the whole time its well deserved reputation for gallantry. From the original formation to the final muster out, July 1, 1865, at Munson’s Hill, Virginia, the Seventh participated in the following battles: Romney, W.Va.; Harrison’s Landing, Va.; Antietam, Md.; Fredericksburg, Va.; Chancellorsville, Va.; Gettysburg, Pa.; Mine Run, Va.; Morton’s Ford, Va.; Wilderness, Va.; Front Royal, Va.; Po River, Va.; Spottsylvania, Va.; North Anna, Va.; Totopotomy, Va.; Cold Harbor, Va.; Petersburg, Va.; Deep Bottom, Va.; Ream’s Station, Va.; Boydton Road, Va.; Strawberry Plains, Va.; Hatcher’s Run, Va.; Sailor’s Creek, Va.; Farmville, Va.; Appomattox, Va.

The regiment participated in the grand review at Washington City, on the 24th of June, 1865. The losses sustained during the war were, killed 142—14 percent of its enrollment. Total in killed and wounded, 522.

[Source: Loyal West Virginia 1861-1865, by Theodore Lang]

Organized at Portland, Cameron, Grafton, Wheeling, Morgantown and Greenland, W. Va., July 16 to December 3, 1861.
Attached to Railroad District, West Virginia, to January, 1862.

1st Brigade, Landers’ Division, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1862.

1st Brigade, Shields’ 2nd Division, Banks’ 5th Army Corps and Dept. of the Shenandoah. to May, 1862.

1st Brigade, Shields’ Division, Dept. of the Rappahannock, to June, 1862.

Kimball’s Independent Brigade, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to September, 1862.

1st Brigade, 3rd Division, 2nd Army Corps, Army of the Potomac, to March, 1864.

3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 2nd Army Corps, to June, 1865.

Service 

Moved to Romney, W. Va., and duty there till January 10, 1862.
Skirmish at Romney, Mill Creek Mills, October 26, 1861.

Expedition to Blue’s Gap January 6-7, 1862.

Hanging Rock, Blue’s Gap, January 7.

At Paw Paw Tunnel till March 4.

Advance on Winchester March 4-15.

Battle of Winchester March 23.

Cedar Creek March 25.

Woodstock April 1.

Edenburg April 2.

Columbia Furnace April 16.

Occupation of Mount Jackson April 17.

March to Fredericksburg, Va., May 12-22.

Ravenswood May 15.

March to Front Royal May 25-30.

Front Royal May 30.

Expedition to Luray June 3-7.

Forced march to Port Republic June 8-9.

Battle of Port Republic June 9 (Reserve).

Moved to Alexandria June 29, thence to Harrison’s Landing June 30-July 2.

Haxall’s, Herring Creek, Chickahominy Swamp, July 3-5.

Moved to Alexandria, thence to Centreville August 16-29.

Plains of Manassas August 29-30.

Germantown September 1.

Maryland Campaign September 6-22.

Battles of South Mountain, Md., September 14; Antietam September 16-17.

Moved to Harper’s Ferry, W. Va., September 22, and duty there till October 30.

Reconnoissance to Leesburg October 1-2.

Advance up Loudoun Valley and march to Falmouth, Va., October 30-November 18.

Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 12-15.

Duty at Falmouth till April.

“Mud March” January 20-24.

Chancellorsville Campaign April 27-May 6.

Battle of Chancellorsville May 1-5.

Gettysburg (Pa.) Campaign June 11-July 24.

Battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July 1-3.

Pursuit of Lee to Manassas Gap, Va., July 5-24.

Duty on line of the Rappahannock till September.

Advance from line of the Rappahannock to the Rapidan September 13-17.

Bristoe Campaign October 9-22.

Auburn and Bristoe October 14.

Advance to line of the Rappahannock November 7-8.

Kelly’s Ford November 7.

Mine Run Campaign November 26-December 2.

Robertson’s Tavern November 27.

Mine Run Nvember 28-30.

Demonstration on the Rapidan February 6-7, 1864.

Morton’s Ford February 6-7.

Campaign from the Rapidan to the James May 3-June 15.

Battles of the Wilderness May 5-7; Laurel Hill May 8; Spottsylvania May 8-12; Po River May 10; Spottsylvania Court House May 12-21.

Assault on the Salient or “Bloody Angle” May 12.

North Anna River May 23-26.

On line of the Pamunkey May 26-28.

Totopotomoy May 28-31.

Cold Harbor June 1-12.

Before Petersburg June 16-18.

Siege of Petersburg June 16, 1864, to April 2, 1865.

Jerusalem Plank Road June 22-23, 1864.

Demonstration north of the James July 27-29.

Deep Bottom July 27-28.

Demonstration north of the James August 13-20.

Strawberry Plains, Deep Bottom, August 14-18.

Ream’s Station August 25.

Poplar Springs Church September 29-October 1.

Yellow House October 1-3.

Hatcher’s Run October 27-28.

Raid on Weldon Railroad December 7-12.

Dabney’s Mills, Hatcher’s Run, February 5-7, 1865.

Watkins’ House March 25.

Appomattox Campaign March 28-April 9.

Boydton and White Oak Roads March 30-31.

Crow’s House March 31.

Fall of Petersburg April 2.

Sailor’s Creek April 6.

Farmville and High Bridge April 7.

Clover Hill, Appomattox Court House, April 9.

Surrender of Lee and his army.

March to Washington, D. C., May 1-12.

Grand Review May 23.

Moved to Louisville, Ky., June.

Mustered out July 1, 1865.

[Source: Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, by Frederick Dyer]

Regiment lost during service 9 Officers and 133 Enlisted men killed and mortally wounded and 4 Officers and 154 Enlisted men by disease. Total 300.

[Source: Compendium of the War of the Rebellion, by Frederick Dyer]

The Seventh West Virginia Infantry: An Embattled Union Regiment from the Civil War’s Most Divided State, by David W. Mellott and Dr. Mark A. Snell

Civil War Monuments to the 7th West Virginia Infantry at Gettysburg from Stone Sentinels

7th West Virginia Infantry from Wikipedia

7th West Virginia Infantry from The Civil War in the East

7th West Virginia Infantry – West Virginia Adjutant General Papers at West Virginia State Archives