38th Virginia Infantry

The 38th Virginia Infantry was organized in May and June of 1861 in the southern Virginia counties of Pittsylvania Halifax and Mecklenburg. Seven of the ten Companies were recruited in Pittsylvania thus it was called the Pittsylvania Regiment. Less than a year prior census takers unknowingly finished recording for posterity the men who would go to war. An in depth study shows seven Virginia counties and six North Carolina counties bordering the recruitment area of Pittsylvania Halifax and Mecklenburg would contribute men to the 38th Virginia. The 38th Virginia Infantry was in the field of battle from Yorktown in April of 1862 to Appomattox on April 9 1865. The largest losses suffered were at battles of 7 Pines Malvern Hill Gettysburg Chester Station and the 2nd Battle of Drewry's Bluff. Herein is detail on the orders of battles the prison camps endured and the names of parents and wives of the soldiers with focus on the census of 1860.