Virginia Soldiers from New York...

[4thVirginiaSoldier]

I'm wondering on how I would go about searching for Virginia soldiers who left New York to fight for the South. I was interested in finding some tips or sites that have info on it.

[guad42]

Re: Virginia Soldiers from New York...

I imagine it must be possible - seeing as Admiral William F. "Bull" Halsey's grandfather served New Jersey and his older brother fought for Virginia.

-Sam Dolan

[Hank Trent]

Re: Virginia Soldiers from New York...

If you have access to www.ancestry.com, you can search military records by filling in the place of birth, years of service (like 1863 +/-5 years) and place of service. I tried putting in New York and Virginia, respectively, and didn't check the box that specified exact matches.

Unfortunately, it doesn't work as well as one might hope, since it brings up quite a few men from New York who apparently enlisted or served in the Union Army in loyal sections of Virginia. However, there may be a few relevant hits like the following, so it might be worth looking at:

Name: Robert Blow
Residence: New York City, New York
Enlistment Date: 5 Jan 1864
Rank at enlistment: Private
Enlistment Place: Albemarle County, VA
State Served: Virginia
Survived the War?: Yes
Service Record: Enlisted in the Virginia Bedford Light Artillery Battery on 01 May 1864.
Description: height: 5 ft. 8 in., fair complexion, hazel eyes, dark hair.
Sources: The Virginia Regimental Histories Series

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[NY Pvt]

Re: Virginia Soldiers from New York...

Mike,
Are you looking for New Yorkers who came to Virginia just to enlist and fight for the Confederacy? Or transplanted New Yorkers who somehow managed to find themselves in Virginia units?

This attached article, while it does not talk about the war years, discusses a migration of Northern (and in particular New Yorker) farmers into Northern Virginia and may be a good place to start with some research. It would be interesting to see which side some of the young men who grew up half their lives in New York and the other half in Virginia chose.

While not a Virginia unit, one story I read in Banners and Bugles by Will Plank (which I do not have in front of me) that I found particularly unfortunate, was a New Yorker from Esopus, NY that was a crew member of a ship that found its way into Charleston early on in the war. He was conscripted into a South Carolina unit and stationed on Sullivan’s Island. Understandably, he deserted, but was captured, tired and executed after his first attempt.

[4thVirginiaSoldier]

Re: Virginia Soldiers from New York...

New Yorkers who left to fight for the Confederacy, Virginia preferably.

[Busterbuttonboy]

Re: Virginia Soldiers from New York...

Pegrams Artillery at Five Forks. The roster showed most men being from Richmond and the surrounding tri-county area, accept for one guy from Harpers Ferry and another from PA. Unfortunately it doesn't tell how he got there.