34th Battalion, Virginia Cavalry (Witcher's Battalion, Virginia Mounted Rifles) (Confederate)Edit This Page

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Brief History

Formerly the 1st Battalion Virginia Mounted Rifles, was organized in December, 1862. The unit served in A.G. Jenkins', W.E. Jones', V.A. Witcher's, and B.T. Johnson's Brigade and first engaged the Federals in western Virginia. It had a force of 172 men at Gettysburg, returned to western Virginia, then was involved in operations in East Tennessee. During April, 1864, it contained 222 effectives, saw action at Piedmont, and served with Early in the Shenandoah Valley. The 34th disbanded at Lynchburg in April, 1865. Lieutenant Colonel Vinson A. Witcher, and Majors John A. McFarlane and William Straton were in command.^[1]

AKA - Witcher's Battalion, Virginia Mounted Rifles

Companies in this Regiment with the Counties of Origin

Men often enlisted in a company recruited in the counties where they lived though not always. After many battles, companies might be combined because so many men were killed or wounded. However if you are unsure which company your ancestor was in, try the company recruited in his county first.

Company A (Witcher's Company Virginia Mounted Rifles) - many men from Wayne County

Company B (Captain William Straton) - many men from Cabell, Logan, Boone, Putnam and Kanawha Counties

Company C (McDowell Partisan Rangers) - many men from Tazewell and McDowell County

Company D (1st Battalion Virginia Mounted Rifles) - many men from Logan County

Company E   - many men from Buchanan, Tazewell and McDowell County

Company F (Walker's Battalion) - many men from Washington and Sullivan Counties, Tennessee

Company G    many men transferred from Companies A, B and I, 22nd Virginia Cavalry

Company H (Captain Robert C. Boyd's Company) (Captain Boyd's Virginia Cavalry) formed from a division of Captain John McFarlane's Company

Company  I (Captain John A. McFarlane's Company) organized as part of Captain McFarlane's Squadron Virginia Cavalry

Company K ( Captain James T. Sweeney) - many men from Mercer, Raleigh, Giles and Wyoming Counties

The information above is from 34th Virginia Cavalry, by Scott C. Cole.

Field & Staff

Company A

Company B

Company C

Company D

Company E

Company F

Company G

Company H

Company I

Company K

Other Sources

• Beginning United States Civil War Research gives steps for finding information about a Civil War soldier or sailor. It covers the major records that should be used. Additional records are described in Virginia in the Civil War and United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865 (see below).

• National Park Service, The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, is searchable by soldier's name and state. It contains basic facts about soldiers on both sides of the Civil War, a list of regiments, descriptions of significant battles, sources of the information, and suggestions for where to find additional information.

• Virginia in the Civil War describes many Confederate and Union sources, specifically for Virginia, and how to find them.. These include compiled service records, pension records, rosters, cemetery records, Internet databases, published books, etc.

• United States Civil War, 1861 to 1865 describes and explains United States and Confederate States records, rather than state records, and how to find them. These include veterans’ censuses, compiled service records, pension records, rosters, cemetery records, Internet databases, published books, etc.

References

1. ↑ National Park Service, The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, (accessed 6 December 2010).

• This page was last modified on 9 July 2012, at 19:59.
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