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59th Virginia Infantry

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Muster In: Organized on August 8, 1861.  Merged with the 28th Virginia Infantry Battalion as the 59th Virginia on November 1, 1862.1
Muster Out: April 9, 18652

Commander(s):
Colonel William B. Tabb
Commander Image

Major Robert G. Mosby
Commander Image

Captain Henry Wood, Jr.
Commander Image

Captain James L. Jennett
Commander Image

Commander 5
Commander Image

First Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army3

  • Commander:
    • Colonel William B. Tabb (at least June 10 and 15-17, 1864)(wounded in the thigh June 17, 1864)4,5,6
    • ? (June 17-18, 1864)
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Second Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army7

  • Commander:
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Third Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army8

  • Commander:
    • Major Robert G. Mosby9
    • Captain Henry Wood, Jr. (at least July 30, 1864)(slightly wounded in head on July 30, 1864)10
    • ?
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons: Enfield Rifles (.577 caliber) (July 30, 1864)11

Fourth Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army12

  • Commander: Major Robert G. Mosby (at least August 29, 1864)13,14
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Fifth Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Department of North Carolina and Southern Virginia | Confederate Army15,16

  • Commander:
    • Major Robert G. Mosby (went on leave September 2, 1864)17
    • Captain James L. Jennett (at least September 2 and 30, 1864)18,19
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Sixth Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Fourth Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army20

  • Commander: Colonel William B. Tabb (at least October 31, 1864)21,22
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Seventh Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Fourth Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army23,24

  • Commander:
    • Major Robert G. Mosby (at least November 30 and December 31, 1864)(sick at least December 22-26)(November & December 1864)25,26,27
    • Colonel William B. Tabb (was present to take leave for his Dec. 14 wedding on December 9, 1864)28
    • ? (while Major Mosby was out sick in December)(December 1864)29
  • Unit Strength:
  • Weapons:

Eighth Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Fourth Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army30,31,32,33,34

  • Commander:
    • Major Robert G. Mosby (January & February 1865)35,36,37,38
    • Colonel William B. Tabb (February 1865)39
  • Unit Strength: 254 officers and men PFD (January 29, 1865)40
  • Weapons: Enfield Rifles (.577 caliber) (January 29, 1865)41

Ninth Offensive Order of Battle: Wise’s Brigade | Johnson’s Division | Fourth Corps | Army of Northern Virginia | Confederate Army42,43

  • Commander:
    • Major Robert G. Mosby (captured March 31)(March 1865)44
    • ? (after Maj. Mosby was captured)(March 1865)45
    • None listed. (April 1-2, 1865)46
  • Unit Strength: 161 officers and men (April 9, 1865)47
  • Weapons:

Dyer’s/Sifakis’ Compendium Info:
Siege of Petersburg Battles48:

  • Petersburg Siege (June 1864-April 1865)
  • The Crater (July 30, 1864)
  • Sayler’s Creek (April 6, 1865)
  • Appomattox Court House (April 9, 1865)

Bibliography:

Siege of Petersburg Documents Which Mention This Unit:

Sources:

The number of officers and men paroled at Appomattox was 161.

  1. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 254-255 ↩
  2. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 254-255 ↩
  3. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 115 ↩
  4. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), pp. 78, 80, 192 ↩
  5. “Affairs in the Vicinity of Petersburg.” Raleigh Confederate. June 20, 1864, p. 2 col. 3-4: “Col. Tabb, of the 59th Va. regiment was borne on a litter with a flesh wound in his leg. It was from him we learned the gratifying fact of the enemy’s bloody repulse.” ↩
  6. “From the Front.” Daily Constitutionalist (Augusta, GA), June 21, 1864, p. 2, col. 3-5, originally printed in The Daily Express (Petersburg, VA), June 18, 1864, page and column(s) unknown. ↩
  7. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., p. 115 ↩
  8. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 124 ↩
  9. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 124 ↩
  10. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), pp. 80, 207 ↩
  11. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 80 ↩
  12. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 133 ↩
  13. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 78 ↩
  14. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 133 ↩
  15. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 141 ↩
  16. Sommers, Richard J. “Grant’s Fifth Offensive at Petersburg: A Study in Strategy, Tactics, and Generalship.  The Battle of Poplar Spring Church, the First Battle of the Darbytown Road, the Second Battle of the Squirrel Level Road, the Second Battle of the Darbytown Road (Ulysses S. Grant, Virginia).” Doctoral Thesis. Rice University, 1970. Print. p. 1314. ↩
  17. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 141 ↩
  18. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 78 ↩
  19. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 141 ↩
  20. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 150 ↩
  21. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 78 ↩
  22. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 150 ↩
  23. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 158 ↩
  24. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 167 ↩
  25. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 158 ↩
  26. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 167 ↩
  27. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 78 ↩
  28. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), pp. 86, 192 ↩
  29. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 167 ↩
  30. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 176 ↩
  31. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1174: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, commanded by General R. E. Lee, January 31, 1865”; This list contains many commanders who were not there.  They were the “official” commanders but may have been gone on leave.  I have used none of the leaders from this list as a result. ↩
  32. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1183: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, January 31, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from January 26-31, 1865, and the leaders should be accurate for this time frame. ↩
  33. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 186 ↩
  34. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1273: “Organization of the Infantry and Cavalry of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, February 28, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from February 28, 1865.  However, leaders listed are from January.  I’ve chosen to ignore the leaders and just use this source for the organization of the order of battle. ↩
  35. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 176 ↩
  36. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Volume XLVI, Part 2 (Serial Number 96), page 1183: “Organization of the Army of Northern Virginia, General R. E. Lee, C. S. Army, commanding, January 31, 1865”; This order of battle was based off of inspection reports from January 26-31, 1865, and the leaders should be accurate for this time frame. ↩
  37. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 186 ↩
  38. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 78 ↩
  39. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 186 ↩
  40. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 87: The book lists 25 officers and 229 men “present”, but a quick look at other inspection reports in my possession reassures me this is truly a present for duty number.  I will double check when I transcribe this specific inspection report. ↩
  41. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 87 ↩
  42. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 195 ↩
  43. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 204 ↩
  44. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 195 ↩
  45. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 195 ↩
  46. The Confederate Order of Battle, Volume 1: The Army of Northern Virginia by F. Ray Sibley, Jr., page 204 ↩
  47. Sherwood, G. L. and Weaver, Jeffrey C. 59th Virginia Infantry (H.E. Howard: 1994), p. 93: The number of officers and men paroled at Appomattox was 161. ↩
  48. Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 254-255 ↩

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