30th Virginia Sharpshooters Battalion

The 30th Virginia Sharpshooters Battalion was a unit of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

30th Battalion Virginia Sharpshooters
Flag of Virginia, 1861
ActiveSeptember 1, 1862 – March 2, 1865
DisbandedMarch 1865
AllegianceConfederate States of America Confederate States of America
Branch Confederate States Army
TypeBattalion
RoleInfantry / Sharpshooters
EngagementsAmerican Civil War

Predecessors

The 30th Battalion, Virginia Sharpshooters was created in 1862 from the remains of three artillery batteries with the addition of three further companies made up of transfers. Companies A and B were composed of men from Captain Stephen Adams' Gauley Artillery and Captain Napoleon B. French's Battery.[1] Both units served under General John B. Floyd from the beginning of the war until surrendering at Battle of Fort Donelson.

Battalion Formation to Surrender

Both batteries were exchanged and formed in August 1862 before becoming part of the 30th Battalion, Virginia Sharpshooters in September of that year. The men were recruited primarily from the counties of Roane, Raleigh, Mercer, Monroe, Washington, and Carroll.[2] They spent the next several years in the Department of East Tennessee and West Virginia moving between those locations as a part of General G.C. Wharton's brigade.[3] Sent as reinforcements to General John C. Breckinridge the battalion fought at New Market. Wharton's brigade was again moved east, fighting at Cold Harbor before returning west with General Jubal Early's Second Corps to stop Maj. Gen. David Hunter from destroying the vital supply center at Lynchburg, Virginia.

The battalion was part of General Jubal Early's Army of the Valley for the rest of its service fighting in all major battles during the raid on Washington, DC and the retreat from it. Survivors of the 30th Battalion, Virginia Sharpshooters surrendered with almost all of Early's remaining army after the Battle of Waynesboro, Virginia on March 2, 1865.

Officers

During the battalion's service its field officers included Lieutenant Colonel John Lyle Clark and Major Peter J. Otey. Company commanders included Captain Stephen Adams, Captain Napoleon B. French, Captain Lewis A. Vawter, Captain Charles E. Vawter, Captain R.C. Hoffman, and Captain L.C. Armstrong. Most if not all the officers and men were from counties that became part of West Virginia.

See also

Notes
  1. Dickinson, Jack L. Tattered Uniforms and Bright Bayonets: West Virginia's Confederate Soldiers. Huntington: Marshall University Library Associates, 1995
  2. Mountaineers of the Blue and Gray, The Civil War and West Virginia, George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War, Shepherd Univ., 2008, CD-Rom
  3. "Gabriel Colvin Wharton." Civil War Reference. eBooksOnDisk.com, n.d. Web. 5 Apr 2013. <http://www.civilwarreference.com/people/index.php?peopleID=3235%5B%5D>.

References
  • Public Domain This article incorporates public domain material from Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System. National Park Service.
  • Official Records of the War of Rebellion


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