45th Virginia Infantry Regiment

The 45th 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 in the mountainous area that today encompasses the border regions of Virginia and West Virginia, and was part of Jubal Early's Army of the Valley during the Valley Campaigns of 1864.

Companies and formation

Companies of militia in southwest Virginia began to form as soon as secession occurred on April 17, 1861. Ex-governor John B. Floyd was made a brigadier general and asked to organize these militia into a fighting force. Floyd called the militia to assemble at the central railroad hub of Wytheville and appointed West Point graduate Henry Heth to drill and organize the volunteers.
By May 29, Heth had formed ten companies of roughly 900 men into a fighting unit and it was mustered in as the 45th Virginia.
The original ten companies were:

Company A – Floyd Guard, under Captain Joseph Harrison
Company B – Mount Airy Rough and Readys, under Captain John Buchanan
Company C – Grayson Rifles, under Captain Alexander M. Davis
Company D – Minute Men, under Captain Robert H. Gleaves
Company E – Rough and Readys, under Captain William Lundy
Company F – Sharpshooters, under Captain Andrew J. Grayson
Company G – West Augusta Rifles, under Captain William H. Browne
Company H – Tazewell Rangers, under Captain Edwin H. Harman
Company I – Reed Island Rifles, under Captain Thomas D. Bolt
Company K – Tazewell Boys, under Captain Titus V. Williams

On June 17, Heth was promoted to colonel and made commander of the regiment. Born in Tidewater Virginia, Heth was unpopular with the mountain farmers and was known as a strict disciplinarian. In turn, Heth was frustrated by the illiteracy and lack of discipline of his men, as well as General Floyd's actions as commanding officer. He wrote of Floyd, "I soon discovered that my chief was as incapacitated for the work he had undertaken as I would have been to lead an Italian opera."
The regiment also elected Gabriel Colvin Wharton, a Virginia Military Institute graduate from Culpeper as major, but within a month he was made a colonel, in command of the 51st Virginia Infantry.

Western Virginia Campaign of 1861

In August, Floyd decided to move his brigade into the Kanawha Valley in present-day West Virginia, possibly because of the recent retreat of his political rival, former governor and Confederate brigadier general Henry A. Wise from the same territory. Throughout the month he moved his two regiments north slowly, until they were eventually joined by two more from Wise's brigade, the 22nd and 36th Virginia.
On August 25, scouts reported the 7th Ohio Infantry in camp at and Floyd, after asking Heth's advice, ordered an attack. The 45th Virginia lost its first man killed in battle, but the brigade easily routed the Ohio soldiers. Floyd made camp at Carnifex Ferry and remained there until September 10, when a Union brigade under Brig. Gen. William S. Rosecrans arrived and drove off Floyd's brigade in the Battle of Carnifex Ferry. During the battle, Floyd was wounded in the arm and treated by a surgeon of the regiment. The 45th Virginia lost no men in the battle, but suffered three casualties while retreating towards Dogwood Gap.
Floyd and Wise met up at Dogwood Gap and together withdrew to Sewell Mountain in Fayette County, where the 45th Virginia received a new company out of Tazewell County, Company L. Floyd decided to fall back about 40 miles southeast to what he believed was a more defensible position and ordered Wise to do so as well, but Wise refused and mocked Floyd as he had been mocked in August. On September 21, Gen. Robert E. Lee arrived at the orders of President Jefferson Davis to take command of forces in the Kanawha Valley region. Lee determined that Wise had been correct, and ordered Floyd's brigade back to Sewell Mountain, but also unified the command under Floyd and sent Wise to Richmond for assignment.
Throughout September and October, the brigade maneuvered around the area in several abortive attempts at an attack on Rosecrans' retreating men. Lee was recalled east October 30, leaving sole command to Floyd, who was becoming more unpopular. Several officers of the 45th Virginia resigned over harsh treatment of their men, and Floyd angrily replaced them, including Captains Joseph Harrison, Alexander Davis, and George Gose. In November, Floyd began shelling Rosecrans' position, but did not order an attack and, when Rosecrans began an offensive of his own on November 10 was forced to retreat on roads made miserable by bad weather. He retreated all the way to Dublin in by December 9 before halting and entering winter quarters.
In December, the 45th Virginia became part of a new brigade that was placed under Heth, who was based in Lewisburg and Lt. Col. William E. Peters took charge of the regiment. January was the end of the regiment's enlistment, and the men were promised $500 and a chance to elect new officers if they signed on for another three-year term. Despite only suffering 4 killed in battle and 70 killed by disease, there was much less enthusiasm than in the previous year.

Campaigns of 1862

In January, most of the regiment re-enlisted, and Company L was transferred to the 23rd Virginia Infantry. Floyd and most of his command was transferred to Tennessee to support the activities of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, and the 45th Virginia spent the next several months maneuvering. In April, Lee, now special military adviser to the President, ordered the regiment to Knoxville, but Brig. Gen. Heth convinced him that it was more vital to guard rail lines in southwest Virginia.
On April 30, the 45th Virginia was asked to quickly counter Union movements by Brig. Gen. Jacob D. Cox in Giles County. On May 10, Heth led a small brigade, including the 45th Virginia, against the 23rd Ohio, now under the command of Lt. Col. Rutherford B. Hayes at Giles Court House, driving them out of their position. Heth praised the leadership of Peters, but when the regiment was finally reorganized four days later, Peters was not elected and left the regiment.
Tazewell native William Browne, a West Point graduate and commander of Company G, was elected colonel, and another Tazewell native, Edwin Houston Harman, was elected lieutenant colonel. Alexander Davis became the new major, and the men also took the opportunity to replace five of the ten company commanders, plus the two who had been promoted, as well as many of the lieutenants.
Heth received word that Col. George Crook had occupied Lewisburg and took the 45th and 22nd Virginia and Finney's Battalion to drive them off. Heth mismanaged his affair, and Crook easily defeated the attack, with only the 45th Virginia maintaining some order. He spent the rest of the summer withdrawing, much to the anger of local residents, until he was transferred to Tennessee and replaced by Brig. Gen. John Echols, a Virginia Military Institute graduate.
Maj. Gen. William W. Loring, who had command of the Department of Southwestern Virginia that the 45th Virginia was operating within, decided to unite his forces in order to drive the Union troops from the Kanawha Valley. At 5 am on September 10, Loring deployed his forces on the approach to the Union camp at Fayetteville, with the 45th Virginia on the left reassigned to the brigade of Brig. Gen. John S. Williams. They advanced through heavy fire, Browne writing, “the enemy threw grape and minie-balls thick as hail around us,” until nightfall stopped the brigade. The Union withdrew during the night and began a nearly week-long pursuit to Charleston. The Confederates reached the city in the midst of a Union retreat. Lt. James Hackler and three other men from Company C crossed the river while the town was still half-occupied and hauled down the garrison’s colors, returning with them over the river safely.
With the conclusion of the Battle of Charleston, Loring had effectively cleared all Union troops from the Kanawha Valley and issued a proclamation saying, "The army of the Confederate states has come upon you to expel the enemy, to rescue the people from despotism of the counterfeit State government imposed on you by Northern bayonets, and to restore the country once more to its natural allegiance to the State." Loring also called on the western counties to cease all cooperation with the Northern armies and to send men for new regiments for his own.
The occupation of Charleston was short-lived, though. Lee's defeat at the Battle of Antietam led him to order Loring to the Shenandoah Valley to reinforce him in case Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan pursued the Army of Northern Virginia across the Potomac River. Loring chose to remain in Charleston instead and was summoned to Richmond, where he began marching with his entire army. On October 16, he was summoned again, but this time was also relieved of command, with Echols replacing him temporarily. Echols tried to move the army back to Charleston, but Union forces had already made the position untenable, so he placed the army into winter quarters on a line from Lewisburg to Princeton.
In November, the 45th Virginia's brigade commander, John S. Williams, was made the new head of the Department of Southwestern Virginia to replace Loring, and it was subordinated to the new Trans-Allegheny Department covering all of western Virginia to the Kentucky border, which Williams also commanded temporarily, until Davis settled on Maj. Gen. Samuel Jones.

1863: Defending the Railroad and the Salt Mines

By the winter of 1863, the salt mines of Saltville, Virginia, had become of vital importance to Confederate forces in Virginia. Most of the salt used in preserving meat for the armies came from southwestern Virginia and the Department of the Trans-Allegheny generally, and the 45th Virginia specifically, were charged with protecting the supply. Throughout the winter, the regiment engaged in a series of periodic maneuvers designed to support an offensive that never occurred. Mostly, the regiment moved from town to town, even taking the time to rebuild the home of a local man whose house was destroyed by a windstorm.
Summer brought the admission of the state of West Virginia into the Union, as well as Brig. Gen. William W. Averell to southwestern Virginia and a renewed Union offensive. Averell launched another offensive towards Lewisburg and the Confederate government became concerned about the law library containing the deeds to all the land in western counties of Virginia, recently declared as a new state of West Virginia. Troops from the Trans-Allegheny Department, now under Maj. Gen. Samuel Jones, were asked to protect Lewisburg.
A brigade under Col. William L. Jackson attempted to slow Averell and the 45th Virginia, camped in Lewisburg, attempted to come up on his rear. When Jackson was forced to fall back, Jones sent the 22nd Virginia under Col. George S. Patton and the 26th Virginia Battalion and together, with a handful of other troops, they confronted Averell at White Sulphur Springs on August 26. Two companies detached from the 45th Virginia under Lt. Col. Harman entered the fight on the left "fighting like demons," in his words. As Averell added troops against them Col. Browne sent companies to reinforce and, finally, Maj. Davis brought the rest of the regiment.
After Averell's troops had made four charges on his men, Harman wrote:

After they had charged our regt four different times – and had been repulsed – the next time they came through the brush and go up to within 20 paces before we saw them – and the officers hollowed to us – damn you – aint you Rebels going to run – one of my fellows – replied – no damn you we aint and then we give them such a terrific fire they could not withstand it and ran themselves. Our regt repulsed eight heavy and furious charges.

The fighting continued until nightfall, when both armies slept on the field. The next morning, Averell ordered one more charge and was again repulsed. For their stand at White Sulphur Springs, the men of the 45th Virginia won praise from Jones, who wrote in his report that they had "inscribed their names high on the roll of those who in this war have illustrated the valor of our troops." Col Browne also commented that "notwithstanding long marches my men had made, I had no stragglers or skulkers. I have never on any battle-field seen men act cooler or braver; they fought with a determination to do or die."
With the Confederate forces in Tennessee under heavy pressure as the Union approached Chickamauga during September, the 45th Virginia and much of Jones' command was transferred to East Tennessee. Initially, the regiment was ordered to remain to defend Saltville and the mines while its division went west, but on September 19 the battle at Chickamauga spurred Confederate war planners to order them to Tennessee as well.
Jones began a series of maneuvers and skirmishes around the Wautauga River against the Army of the Ohio under Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside. But when Burnside fell back on Knoxville by mid-October, Jones decided to return the 45th Virginia to Saltville, while the rest of the command joined in the campaign of James Longstreet to lay siege to the Army of the Ohio.
The regiment had already settled into winter quarters when a raid by Averell into the New River Valley threatened the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad again. December 16, the 45th Virginia set out for New River Bridge, then spent Christmas Day in the town of Salem, before the threat was ended and it returned to Saltville and winter quarters. On the final day of 1863, 918 men were listed on the roll as members of the regiment, 702 of whom were present, the rest presumably on sick leave or furlough.