A BRIEF UNIT HISTORY
The 19th Infantry Regiment, 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 at 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.
Many members throughout the war that were captured were sent to Point Lookout, Md. and Fort Delaware,on
Pea Patch Island located in the waters off of Delaware. You can view the Fort Delaware website by clicking the following
link.
Fort Delaware
Another web link to Fort Delaware
Some members of the 19th Virginia as well as other Confederate POW's who died during their captivity
at the two prisons were sent over to Fort Mott in Salem County, New Jersey for final burial. Their names appear on a monument
erected to their memories.
Click on the link below to visit the website for Fort Mott.
Point Look Out
Fort Mott / Finn's Point Cemetery N.J.
Memorial to the Confederate Dead buried in N.J. |
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Click on the picture to see a larger image |
Below are two links to web pages containing the Manual of Arms for the schooling of the soldier
in a properly formed Civil War company of soldiers.
School of the Soldier First Part
School of the Soldier Part Two
The Civil War Soldiers of 1863
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