45th Virginia Infantry Regiment, Confederate States Army

aunt minerva collection

This roster contains the names of 1,947 men who are known to have served with the 45th Virginia Regiment. The primary source used to compile a roster for any Virginia unit is "The Compiled Military Service Records." This is part of Record Group 109 in the National Archives, Washington D.C. The task of compiling the Confederate service records began in 1903 and took 26 years to complete. Grouped under each man's name are cards containing information taken from muster rolls, pay records, hospital rolls, and prison and parole records,together with other information such as letters and requests for supplies and clothing.
The month-to-month status of an individual soldier is best obtained from the muster rolls. THese rolls were taken every two months and stated whether or not the soldier was present or absent. Unfortunately the records that survived the war for the 45th are very poor. Muster rolls are available for the first year of the war without gaps. In 1862 the only record that exists is a field return dated July 1862. There are no rolls available for 1863 and the final roll that exists for the 45th Virginia was taken in April 1864. The absence of these rolls causes the record of the individual soldiers to be very incomplete. since the heaviest fighting of the war for the regiment took place in the summer of 1864, many of those who were killed or wounded during that period have no record of the event.
The lack of muster rolls also makes it difficult to determine if a soldier deserted the regiment or was simply late in returning to camp on one of the few rolls that exist. It is possible that a soldiers available record could end in July 1862 as AWOL when in fact he later returned to the unit and fought through the remainder of the war.
Due to the poor quality of the compiled service records much information had to be taken from postwar records. When such is the case the entry for that soldier indentifies the source. Postwar records include county histories, pension applications, cemetery readings, postwar rosters, and information supplied by descendants of the veterans.

abbreviations commonly used in this roster include:
AWOL absent without leave
btn battalion
bur buried
Capt captain
Cav cavalry
CCC Carroll County Census
cem cemetery
Co Company or county
Cpl corporal
enl enlisted
Ft fort
hosp hospital
inf infantry
KIA killed in action
Lt lieutenant
mwded mortally wounded
NFR no further record
par paroled
POW prisoner of war
Pt point
Pvt private
PWR postwar roster
qtr quarter
RCC Russell County census
regt regiment
res resident
Rich Richmond
Sgt sergeant
TCC Tazewell County Census
transf transferred
WCC Wythe County census
wded wounded

locations of Union military prisons in which various members of the 45th Virginia were confined:
1.Chase near Columbus Ohio
2.Camp Morton in or very near Indianapolis, Indiana
3.Elmira in or very near Elmira, Chemung Co NY
4.Fort Delaware on Pea Patch Island in the Delaware River approximately 15 miles south of Wilmington, Delaware
5.Johnsons Island in Lake Erie approximately 3 miles off shore north of Sandushy, Ohio officers only.
6.Point Lookout on the MAryland side of the Potomac River, in St Mary's County approximately 13 miles south of St Mary's City
7.Rock Island on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River, between Rock Island Illinois and Davenport Iowa.

45th Virginia Infantry Roster
Maxwell James C.
Co A Enl. 5/29/61 at Wytheville. Sick 9/61. Elected Lt. by 7/62. Captured at Winchester, 9/19/64. POW. Ft. Delaware. Released 6/17/65. 5'10" tall, gray eyes, dark hair, res. Tazewell Co.
this is my great great grandpa!

Members of the Virginia Convention of 1861
the secession convention
in the county of Tazewell 1406 were for secession, 0 were against secession

the 4th Battalion Virginia Infantry , CSA was organized from the remnants of the Virginia State Line by Colonel Henry M Beckley. many of the soldiers in the battalion were residents of territories occupied by Federals when the War broke out. Others joined Beckley's battalion because they served under him in the Virginia STate Lines. Beckley's command was made official 10Dec1863.