Free.

“The Seventh West Virginia Infantry:  An Embattled Union Regiment from the Civil War’s Most Divided State” with David W. Mellott & Mark A. Snell

Many Wheeling men fought with the Seventh. Most of those men were mustered in at the Custom House, now known as West Virginia Independence Hall. Their regimental flag is a part of the Hall’s Civil War Battle Flags Exhibit.

The Seventh West Virginia Infantry, or “The Bloody Seventh,” as it came to be known, has been described by Theodore Lang in his Loyal West Virginia as the “banner regiment” from West Virginia during the Civil War. Its war service, however, ranks with some of the greatest fighting Union regiments that the war produced. This talk will focus on the common soldiers who banded together to form the unit: who they were, where they came from, why they were motivated to join the fight, and what they achieved. Wheeling’s role in helping to bring the unit together will also be discussed, as will the Seventh’s early war service in northern West Virginia. Finally, the talk will provide a glimpse of the regiment’s noteworthy battlefield exploits in the Army of the Potomac. The authors will be sharing some material that is not found in the book.

David W. Mellott is a lawyer in Cleveland, Ohio. Several of his ancestors fought in the Seventh West Virginia.

Mark A. Snell is the retired professor of history and director of the George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War, Shepherd University, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia. Snell is the author of many works on Civil War history, including West Virginia and the Civil War: Mountaineers Are Always Free.