12th Virginia Infantry

12th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
Flag of Virginia, 1861
Active	July 1861 – Spring 1865
Country	Confederate States of America
Allegiance	Virginia
Branch	Confederate States Army
Type	Regiment
Role	Infantry
Engagements	American Civil War: Drewry's Bluff-Seven Days' Battles-Second Battle of Manassas-Battle of Crampton's Gap-Battle of Sharpsburg-Battle of Fredericksburg-Battle of Chancellorsville-Battle of Gettysburg-Siege of Petersburg-Battle of Appomattox Court House
Disbanded	April 1865

American Civil War:

The 12th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in central Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia.

The 12th Virginia was organized at Norfolk, Virginia, in May, 1861, using the 4th Battalion Virginia Volunteers as its nucleus. Its members were from Petersburg, Richmond, Hicksford, and Norfolk. The regiment was assigned to General Mahone's and Weisiger's Brigade in the Army of Northern Virginia.

It participated in many conflicts from Seven Pines to Cold Harbor, then was involved in the Petersburg siege south of the James River and the Appomattox Campaign.

This unit totaled 691 effectives in June, 1862, and sustained 23 casualties at Oak Grove, 69 at Second Manassas, 39 during the Maryland Campaign, 1 at Fredericksburg, and 86 at Chancellorsville. Of the 348 engaged at Gettysburg, only four percent were disabled. It surrendered 12 officers and 177 men.

The field officers were Colonels Everard M. Feild and David A. Weisiger; Lieutenant Colonels John R. Lewellen and Fielding L. Taylor; and Majors Edgar L. Brockett, Richard W. Jones, and John P. May.

Future Virginia governor William Hodges Mann served in the 12th Virginia. He would be the last governor of Virginia who had fought in the Civil War.

The different companies of the 12th Virginia wore a menagerie of uniforms in the beginning. Here is the brief description of each company:

Navy blue frock coats with light tape trim on the edge of the collar, pointed cuff decoration, and striping on the trousers, following in accordance to VA state regulations of this year. They wore a shako in similar pattern and color as the Richmond Grays (later Co. G, one of the shakos can be seen in Time Life's Echoes of Glory series), with the plate and pompom devices. The trim may be sky blue, white, yellow, or gold, however the way photos were taken in the 19th century, yellow and gold often appears dark, almost black, so this is a stretch of whether or not this is a possibility.