HISTORY
The Thirteenth Infantry Regiment was
organized
October, 1862, with the following
field officers: William R. Brown,
colonel; James R.
Hall, lieutenant-colonel.
The regiment served in the Kanawha
Valley during the
first year of the war,
mostly doing guard duty and scouting by
detachments
of companies. In May,
1863, the regiment was placed in the
brigade of Col.
Rutherford B. Hayes,
and continued to serve under Colonel
Hayes for about
18 months. During this
period the regiment experienced
considerable hard
service.
In May, 1864, the regiment, 720 men,
received orders
to march at 8 A.M. the
following day. The march was via
Lewisburg. Crossed
the main Alleghanies,
June 2; Hot Springs, June 4; skirmished
with the
enemy at Warm Spring Mountain;
at Goshen on the Virginia Central
Railroad on the
5th and 6th, the time being
devoted to destroying the railroad. June
7, crossed
the mountain at Pond
Gap; arrived at Staunton June 8, where
it joined
General Hunter's command.
On the 10th, Hunter started on his
advance from
Staunton; in a skirmish on
that day, near the village of Newport,
the regiment
had several men wounded.
June 11, was present at the battle of
Lexington;
crossed the James River
at Buchanan on the 14th; crossed the
Blue Ridge on
the 15th; arrived at Liberty,
county seat of Bedford County, on the
16th; the day
was devoted to destroying
the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad.
June 17, at 10
P.M., the regiment was
assigned its place in line of battle for
the
following day before Lynchburg.
June 18, at sunrise, the enemy opened
heavily with
artillery. During the
morning the regiment was deployed to the
right of
the town; at noon the force
was concentrated at the centre; was
again deployed
in line of battle in front
of the brigade at 1 P.M., and slowly
advanced under
a heavy artillery and
musketry fire towards the enemy's works,
and
remained before the works until
8 P.M., when the regiment was ordered to
take
position one mile beyond the
village of New London. Loss in this
engagement six
men wounded.
June 20, was at Buford's Gap. Recrossed
the
Alleghany Mountains in the evening
of June 24; at Meadow Bluff, 25; crossed
Gauley
River, June 28; encamped
below Elk River July 1. Distance marched
since May
30, 480 miles. Colonel
Hayes' brigade, to which this regiment
was attached,
on this expedition consisted
of the 23d Ohio, Lieut.-Col. James M.
Comly; 36th
Ohio, col. Hiram F. Devol;
5th West Virginia, Col. Abia A.
Tomlinson; 13th West
Virginia, Col. Wm. R.
Brown. At the battle of Winchester, Va.,
on July 24
and 25, Col. Hayes' brigade
was attached to Duval's division, Eighth
Army Corps.
The 13th Regiment displayed
conspicuous gallantry in this battle.
Colonel Hayes
in his report of the
engagement makes this special mention:
"The 13th
West Virginia volunteer
Infantry, Colonel Brown, was never in a
general
engagement before. The officers
and men of this regiment, under the
circumstances, I
deem worthy of special
commendation." The regiment lost in this
engagement
14 killed, 50 wounded,
15 missing.
January 31, 1864, the regiment was in
Col. Abia A.
Tomlinson's First Brigade,
still in Kelley's division. April 2,
1864, we find
the regiment at Cumberland,
Md., as part of General Sigel's command.
At Cedar
Creek, October 19, 1864,
the regiment again showed its sticking
qualities;
Lieut-Col. James R. Hall
was killed in this engagement while
gallantly
leading his men.
SERVICE
Organized at Mt. Pleasant and
Barboursville October,
1862. Attached to District
of the Kanawha, West Virginia, Dept. of
the Ohio, to
March, 1863. 1st Brigade,
3rd Division, 8th Army Corps, Middle
Dept., to June,
1863. 1st Brigade, Scammon's
Division, Dept. of West Virginia, to
December, 1863.
1st Brigade, 3rd Division,
West Virginia, to January, 1864. 1st
Brigade, 2nd
Division, West Virginia,
to April, 1864. 1st Brigade, 2nd
Infantry Division,
West Virginia, to January,
1865. 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry
Division, West
Virginia, to April, 1865.
1st Brigade, 4th Provisional Division,
West
Virginia, to June, 1865.
SERVICE.--Duty at Point Pleasant and
Coalsmouth, W.
Va., till April. 1863.
Hurricane Bridge March 28. Skirmish at
Point
Pleasant March 30. Hurricane
and Coal River till July. Fayetteville
May 20.
Expedition to Piney in pursuit
of Loring July 5-14, and in pursuit of
Morgan July
17-26. Duty at Charleston
and other points in the Kanawha Valley
till May,
1864. Crook's Raid on Virginia
& Tennessee Railroad May 2-19.
Battle of Cloyd's
Mountain May 9. New
River Bridge and Cove Mountain May 10.
Salt Pond
Mountain and Gap Mountain
May 12-13. Hunter's Expedition to
Lynchburg May
26-July 1. Lexington June
11. Diamond Hill June 17. Lynchburg June
17-18.
Retreat to Charleston June
18-July 1. Buford's Gap June 19. About
Salem June
21. Moved to the Shenandoah
Valley July 12-15. Battle of
Kernstown-Winchester
July 23-24. Martinsburg
July 25. Sheridan's Shenandoah Valley
Campaign
August 6-November 28. Near
Charlestown, W. Va., August 21-22.
Halltown August
26. Berryville September
3. Battle of Opequan, Winchester,
September 19.
Fisher's Hill September 22.
Battle of Cedar Creek October 19. At
Camp Russell
and in the Shenandoah Valley
till December. Kablestown November 18.
At
Cumberland, Md., till April, 1865.
At Winchester and Staunton till June.
Mustered out
June 22, 1865.
LOSSES
Regiment lost during service 4 Officers
and 57
Enlisted men killed and mortally
wounded and 1 Officer and 107 Enlisted
men by
disease. Total 169.
[Source: Loyal West Virginia
1861-1865, by
Theodore Lang]
[Source: Compendium of the War of
the
Rebellion, by Frederick Dyer]
[Source: Regimental Losses in the
American Civil
War (1861-1865),
by William F. Fox]