36th Virginia Infantry


The 36th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment mostly raised in the Kanawha Valley for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly in western Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

History

The 36th Virginia, also known as the 2nd Kanawha Regiment, began organizing in May, 1861, as VMI graduate turned professor Col. John McCausland requested V.M.I. to send him drill instructors for men recruited by Col. Christopher Q. Tompkins and sent to Camp Buffalo. Other recruits by Col. Tompkins became the Kanawha Regiment. In June additional recruits joined at camps near Charleston. The primary counties of recruitment were Putnam, Boone, Roane, Nicholas, Raleigh, Logan, Giles and Bland. It was formally enrolled in the Confederate Army and designated the 36th Virginia Infantry on July 15, 1861. It and the 22nd Virginia were initially assigned under the command of former Virginia Governor Henry A. Wise. Its scouts first encountered Union forces on June 13 and on June 17 under Col. George S. Patton defeated Federal forces at the Battle of Scary Creek, but those men, then tried to set up a winter camp near the Fayetteville Court House, but ended up retreating from the Kanawha valley and attempting another winter camp at Dublin Depot. However, they were ordered to join Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston at Bowling Green, Kentucky, so left after Christmas. The 36th Virginia was involved in skirmishes on January 23, 1862 in Mercer County, West Virginia and January 28, 1862 in Raleigh County, West Virginia. By February they were attempting to defend Nashville, Tennessee. Here the 36th Virginia escaped surrender at the Battle of Fort Donelson. After Nashville surrendered, many men received furloughs until May 1 and returned to Virginia.
The unit reunited at Dublin Depot, retaking the Giles County courthouse of the war. Some of its troops skirmished in Raleigh County in January, Boone and Nicholas Counties in February and again in Raleigh County in March. In May the 36th Virginia fought the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain, a Confederate loss. Subsequently, assigned to General William E. Jones, Col. McCausland was promoted to brigadier general of what had been the late Gen. Albert Jenkins' cavalry brigade. Gen. Imboden's cavalry asked for support against Union General Hunter's army, so the 36th Virginia and other units took trains to Staunton, Virginia, where they fought the Battle of Piedmont, during which Gen. Jones was mortally wounded and the 36th Virginia suffered its most significant battle losses to date. It was then involved in Gen. Jubal Early's Shenandoah Valley operations. McCausland's cavalry burned Chambersburg, Pennsylvania when it refused ransom.
After the losses at Third Battle of Winchester and Fisher's Hill in September 1864, the 36th Virginia was reinforced with many conscripts over the age of 35. Although its last battle-related death was on October 19, 1864, many from the unit had been taken prisoner before the winter encampment at Fishersville with the 60th Virginia Infantry.
This unit reported 14 killed and 46 wounded at Battle of Fort Donelson, and 18 killed, 58 wounded, and 35 missing at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain. Then it suffered 29 dead, 36 wounded and 112 captured at the Battle of Piedmont. Many were lost at the Third Battle of Winchester, and Southern forces under Early were routed at the Waynesboro on March 2, 1865. In mid-April, 1865, the 36th Virginia disbanded and the men returned to their homes in the western counties.
The field officers were Colonels John McCausland and Thomas Smith, and Lieutenant Colonels William E. Fife, Benjamin R. Linkous, and L. Wilber Reid.

Companies and officers

CompanyNicknameRecruited atFirst Commanding Officer
ABuffalo GuardsPutnam CountyWilliam Estill Fife
Andrew J. Burford
BLogan County WildcatsLogan CountyHenry Beckley
combined with Companies C and H as Co. D
CChapmanville RiflemenLogan CountyCharles J. Stone
James M. Lawson
Hugh Toney
DBoone RangersBoone CountyJames Whann McSherry
reorganized as Co.B in 1862
ERaleigh RangersRaleigh CountyBenjamin R. Linkous
Christopher Roles
reorganized as Co.C in 1862
FMountain RiflemenNicholas County, West VirginiaJohn G. Newman
Francis Thornton
GWestern riflemenRoane CountyFranklin P. Turner
George Duval
John S. McGuire
reorganized as Co.E in 1862
G1Bland riflemenBland CountyJohn H. Harner
Henry C. Grossclose
organized 1862
HCaptain Louis Lechenet's CompanyLogan CountyLouis Lechenet
combined with Companies B and C as Co. D
H1Giles CountyAndrew J. Porterfield
James F. Hare
organized 1862
IGiles County
Franklin County
Roanoke County		Andrew A. Gott
KFairview Rife GuardsWayne CountyPeter D. Morgan
originally Company I or K with Captain Riggs' Company;
reorganized in 1862 with transfers from other companies