The 41st Virginia Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in the Commonwealth of Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia in Longstreet's corps and, later, that army's Third Corps.
The regiment was formed from independent militia companies operating in the Norfolk area, with men from the surrounding counties, as far west as Petersburg. Throughout the war it operated in brigades under William Mahone and David A. Weisiger, and the divisions of Benjamin Huger, Richard H. Anderson, and William Mahone. The regiment participated in the capture and later abandonment of Norfolk Naval Yard, and every major campaign of the Army of Northern Virginia. Several dozen men and officers of the regiment also served on the CSS Virginia in the Battle of Hampton Roads. The 41st Virginia was also involved in the friendly fire incident that severely wounded James Longstreet during the Battle of the Wilderness.
The Virginia Militia
In late 1860, Thomas Kevill, the Irish-born proprietor of a clothing store and captain of the Norfolk United Volunteer Fire Company, organized the United Artillery Company, composed mainly from firemen from Norfolk, Virginia. By the time Virginia's secession convention met on April 17, he had procured a few light artillery pieces. William H. Etheridge had also formed a company of infantry, the Norfolk County Rifle Patriots, raised among men from Great Bridge, Virginia.Henderson, pp. 1–2
Immediately after the secession convention announced their vote, Norfolk's mayor ordered the local militia, including Kevill and Etheridge, to seize strategic points. Kevill took Fort Norfolk on the Elizabeth River below the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and moved heavy artillery pieces from the War of 1812 found in the basement of city hall there to defend the harbor. Etheridge's company occupied Washington Point across the Elizabeth River from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard.Henderson, pp. 2
Private Isaac Walling of Kevill's United Artillery Company was a professional diver and helped raise the hull of the scuttled screw-frigate Merrimac, destroyed by Federal forces while abandoning the Navy Yard. Confederate engineers planned to use the iron hull to build an ironclad ram.
Virginia Governor John Letcher appointed Robert E. Lee a major general in charge of the Commonwealth's military force on April 23. Lee distributed arms from the state's arsenals and issued a call for volunteer troops. Thomas Junius Eppes, a 33-year-old wealthy planter, formed the Sussex Sharpshooters from men in Sussex with the help of his lieutenant, W. A. Parham State Senator Benjamin Hatcher Nash formed the Confederate Grays with men from Chesterfield, Henrico, and Hanover Counties, as well as Richmond, where they were sworn in at Capitol Square wearing elaborate uniforms paid for by the wealthy Clay Drewry. James Skelton Gilliam recruited for his McRae Rifles from Petersburg, but heavy recruiting in the area forced him to also bring in men from surrounding counties. Asa Reynolds Smith formed the Rough and Ready Volunteers from among the coal miners and workers around his Clover Hill farm, many foreign born, and including his brother and the son of the mine owner. Portsmouth businessman Charles R. McAlpine recruited for his Bilisoly Blues among the dock workers and laborers in Portsmouth and Suffolk, though he was only able to recruit 68 men thanks to heavy recruiting in the area already and suspicion about the loyalties of the many foreigners in his company.Henderson, pp. 2–5
Companies and Formation On May 23, Virginia voters ratified the state's secession and it became part of the Confederate States of America. The Virginia State Militia became part of the Confederate States Army and Virginia Brigadier General Benjamin Huger was put in charge of the Department of Norfolk, becoming a Confederate brigadier two weeks later.Eicher, p.308 On July 1, he signed an order organizing the various companies of state militia into regiments, including the 41st Virginia, which he formed with seven companies, intending to bring the total up to ten with additional recruitment, with West Point graduate John R. Chambliss in command as colonel.Henderson, p. 5
The original seven companies were:
Company A – Sussex Sharpshooters (Sussex Co.), Captain Thomas J. Eppes Company B – Confederate Grays (Chesterfield Co., Henrico Co., Hanover Co., and Richmond), Captain Benjamin H. Nash Company C – McRae Rifles (Petersburg, Prince George Co., Dinwiddie Co., and Chesterfield Co.), Captain James S. Gilliam Company D – Rough and Ready Volunteers (Clover Hill), Captain Asa R. Smith Company E – United Artillery Company (Norfolk County), Captain Thomas Kevill Company F – Norfolk County Rifle Patriots (Norfolk Co., now extinct), Captain William H. Etheridge Company G – Bilisoly Blues (Norfolk Co.), Captain Charles R. McAlpine
Additionally, three companies were recruited to fill out the regiment's ranks throughout July and August.Henderson, pp. 6–7
Company H – from Southampton Co., Captain George E. Beaton Company I – Cypress Chapel Sharpshooters Henderson, 41st Virginia Infantry from Nansemond Co. (now part of Suffolk), Captain Robert B. Brinkley Company K – South Quay Guards (Nansemond Co.), Captain Jonas W. Lawrence
Also attached to the 41st Virginia by Huger, though not companies of the regiment were:
Cockade Cadets (Petersburg and surrounding areas), Captain John B. Laurens (later Company E of the regiment) Ragland Guards (Petersburg and surrounding areas), Captain James D. Maney (later Company G of the regiment)
Chambliss established regimental headquarters at Portsmouth Naval Hospital with Companies A, B, H, I, and K headquartered nearby and began drilling the regiment in expectation for a Union attempt to regain the naval yard. The remaining companies were left at the positions they had taken up after seizure of the naval yard, complicating efforts to train them. Company D was across the Elizabeth River at Lambert's Point, Company G was at Craney Island supporting Company C, which was manning the heavy artillery defending the mouth of the river, Company F was guarding the Portsmouth shipyards, and Company E was still manning the heavy guns at Fort Norfolk.Henderson, p. 10
Huger ordered Chambliss to move his headquarters and the five companies surrounding it to Camp Anderson established on Sewell's Point on October 3. The men were armed with smooth-bore flintlock muskets, though many had been converted to use percussion caps. Huger also began slowly sorting out those men unfit for duty who had been enlisted by overzealous recruiters. On October 15, the regiment was brigaded with the 6th, 12th, 16th, 49th Virginia infantry regiments under Colonel William Mahone. Confederate President Jefferson Davis declared martial law and Lieutenant William "Gus" Parham of Company A became provost marshal of Norfolk."Parham's Martial Law Declaration," O.R. Volume LI, Part II, Chapter LXIII, pp. 488–491Henderson, pp. 9–13
On The Peninsula and Around Richmond
In February 1862, Major General Ambrose Burnside led a Union expedition to seize Roanoke Island in North Carolina, raising concern that the next attack would be on Norfolk. In November, Chambliss had asked for volunteers from his regiment to man the rebuilt Merrimac, now the CSS Virginia. Of the 282 men that crewed the vessel, 31 were recruited from the 41st Virginia, mostly from the United Artillery (Company E), including Kevill, as well as Private Albert Griswold, who had been ship's tailor on the Merrimac before the war. On March 8, the Virginia engaged the USS Monitor in the Battle of Hampton Roads, the first battle between two ironclad ships.Henderson, p. 13
Also on March 8, the regiment absorbed 195 conscripted soldiers, drafted that winter from all over Virginia, filling all the companies to as near one hundred men as possible. Captain Etheridge's Norfolk County Rifle Patriots (Company F) had too many men at 158 strong, and sent a third of them to join the newly formed 61st Virginia Infantry.
In late April, Kevill's United Artillery left the regiment to become Company C of the 19th Virginia Battalion, Heavy Artillery manning Fort Darling on the James River. The Cockade Cadets formerly became part of the regiment as the new Company E still under Captain Laurens. Captain Maney's Ragland Guards also replaced the Bilisoly Blues as Company G when they were also transferred to the 61st Virginia.Henderson, p. 15
During April the Confederate Congress had passed a law requiring new elections for officers in the army's regiments. The men as a whole voted for company officers and the company officers together elected field officers. Of the 42 officers in the 41st Virginia, 28 percent were not reelected, though many appear to have left the service. Captain Benjamin Hatcher Nash of Company B, for example, left to serve full-time in the Virginia State Senate and was replaced by Clay Drewry. Lieutenant William "Gus" Parham of Company A was elected lieutenant colonel and Joseph P. Minetree was elected the new major.Henderson, p. 5
The Peninsula Campaign
May 5 also saw the Battle of Williamsburg on the Virginia Peninsula where forces from Joseph E. Johnston's Army of Northern Virginia under James Longstreet fought a rear-guard action against the pursuing Union Army of the Potomac under the overall command of George B. McClellan. The retreat of the Army of Northern Virginia towards Richmond left Huger's division in Norfolk exposed to a Union attack and he received orders to begin planning a withdrawal. The Virginia was burned and all supplies that could be evacuated were, as a Union bombardment ordered by Abraham Lincoln himself began.
On May 10, a Union force under John E. Wool landed in Norfolk and the 41st Virginia acted as rear-guard, skirmishing with Wool's man until falling back and burning Tanner's Creek Bridge. Numbering 1,084, the regiment fell back to Suffolk, where it boarded trains for Petersburg where it was united for the first time, then crossed over to Dunn's Hill and on to Drewry's Bluff, on the north bank of the James River. On May 15, Mahone deployed the 41st Virginia in the woods around Fort Darling during the Battle of Drewry's Bluff to snipe at Union sailors on the USS Galena and the Monitor.Henderson, p. 18
McClellan brought his army within several miles of Richmond and in late May, Johnston planned an offensive to attack the two Union corps south of the Chickahominy River. Huger's Division was to follow in support of the division of D.H. Hill, traveling down the Williamsburg Road. On May 31, when the plan was put into motion, though, James Longstreet led his division down the Williamsburg Road, delaying the entire offensive. Huger's Division spent the first night of the battle on the Charles City Road, with Mahone's Brigade guarding the army's right flank.Henderson, p. 18