60th Virginia Infantry Regiment Book Set, Signed, Confederate, Civil War

Description

Independence or Annihilation
"The Gallant Sixtieth"
Campaigns of the 60th Virginia Regiment of Infantry
This is a two volume softback publication signed by the author. The set depicts the trials and tribulations of the 60th Virginia Regiment of Infantry during America’s Civil War. The book is entitled "Independence or Annihilation,” which is only fitting given it was the regiment’s motto during the war. Volume I is a narrative of a regiment that fought in some of the most grievous battles occupying American soil. Externally, this regiment would appear like any other, but internally, they were unique as they were on many occasions directed to the most crucial segment of the battlefield where the onslaught and overwhelming pressure were applied by their adversary. In several of these cases, their line broke, and the battle was lost. The question is why would an ordinary regiment be placed in such vital and strategic points upon the battlefield on so many occasions? The answer is uncomplicated, it’s because their commanders had faith that they could do the unthinkable. That this regiment was the best. That these few battle-hardened veterans could succeed where others couldn’t. The truth is that these men were asked to do what no mortal man could do, which is to overcome the primary focal point and assault of a battle with a regiment that never amounted to more than 600 men on the field.
This publication has loads of information and an additional case study on slavery within the members of the regiment. You will be able to easily identify the difference in the social classes of these men as well as the number of first-generation immigrants serving alongside third or fourth generation men. It is not difficult to envision the youth of America as a country, only eighty odd years after its creation, but this war, would define us. Volume II is primarily the regimental roster, biographies, statistics, and identifies locations of regimental campsites throughout the war and encompasses additional soldiers not located previously as well as more evidence related to some of its participants. This well-researched two book set was compiled to find the slightest nugget to better understand these men who elected to secede from their Union, and some of these so-called nuggets are boulders. Anyone interested in the Civil War, the Confederacy, the 60th Virginia regiment, the battles this regiment participated in, or the relationships with who was fighting and why; age, social class, education, immigrant, and occupation, will enjoy and be fascinated by this momentous work. There are no Confederate regimental books that speak to slavery or illustrate who in the regiment was associated with the institution like this one. The recognition of slavery should not be excluded from these books as it is one of the primary reasons for the Civil War. Most within the regiment never owned a slave and served with a premise of gaining sovereignty and independence for Virginia, others, primarily in leadership and higher social standing most probably had more motivations in mind.
This two volume set is offered in a 6" x 9", softback; with 2,053 soldier names and biographies. The contents include 155 more soldiers not identified on J. L. Scott's 1997 contribution to the H.E. Howard series of Virginia regimental histories. This compilation contains almost one-thousand pages between the two volumes, which contains biographies, storylines, statistics, and countless photos and illustrations. This published work is the definitive resource for the 60th Virginia Regiment.
60
th
Virginia Regiment of Infantry Biography
The 60th Virginia Infantry Regiment consisted of soldiers from Mercer, Monroe, Greenbrier, Fayette, Roane, Botetourt, Alleghany, Braxton and Fauquier Counties. The regiment was originally organized as the 3
rd
Regiment in Wise's Legion in mid-1861. On August 13, 1861 the Sixtieth Virginia Regiment was formed with ten companies of the Legion which were mainly from western Virginia counties.
The unit served under General Wise in his Western Virginia campaign until they were ordered to South Carolina with General Lee to guard the coastal region.  While Marse Robert was in camp he took a liking to a Confederate grey horse ridden by Captain Joseph Broun, the quartermaster of the regiment. Lee would later purchase this horse and name him Traveller. Traveller was Lee's faithful companion throughout the war and his life.
The Sixtieth returned to Virginia to defend Richmond in the Seven Days battle of 1862. This newly christened regiment received 204 casualties while fighting at Mechanicsville, Gaines Mill and Frayser's Farm. At Frayser's Farm the unit charged and recaptured six napoleon cannons while struggling hand-to-hand with the bayonet. Private Christian, of Co. I, was assailed by four Yankees. He shot one, bayoneted a second, when his brother Joseph, attracted by his cries of “Help! Help!” ran to his assistance and shot the third, and as the fourth wheeled and ran “Bob” pitched his musket at him and the bayonet entered between his shoulders protruding through his breastbone. He fell and begged piteously to have the weapon extracted, to which “Bob” replied that he was “too tired” just then, but would relieve him when rested. “Bob” was pretty well used up, bayoneted through both arms and a furrow plowed transversely across his breast. This altercation earned the Sixtieth the distinction of crossed bayonets being placed on their regimental flag, by order of General Lee.
Afterwards the regiment served under Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain and then under Colonel McCausland, protecting the mountain passes of southwestern Virginia from the 1862 to early 1864. This assignment was essential for guarding the salt, niter mines and the rail lines supplying Richmond from the west.
Grant's 1864 three pronged assault induced heavy campaigning to drive the Yankee invader from their soil.  In May at Cloyd's Mountain the Sixtieth received 152 causalities and the deaths of both their Lt. Colonel and Major.  The following month at Piedmont their Ensign was killed and their Colonel (B.H. Jones) was captured.  They defeated General Hunter at Lynchburg and then swarmed the union capital, fighting at Monocacy, Kernstown and then Winchester, where their flag was captured by Sgt. Henry Fox of the 5th Michigan Cavalry. Colonel Jones said this flag, “attracted the death-shot to half a dozen color-bearers".  Private Thornton Kelly, part of the color guard, “had impaled several Yankees on its spearhead,” before being wounded in the face by a saber cut and captured for his efforts. Thornton spent the remainder of the war in Point Lookout Prison. Jones exclaimed, “What would I not give for that glorious battle-torn banner to transmit as an heir-loom?”
The regiment then fought at Fisher's Hill and Cedar Creek before relenting to the Union's overwhelming numbers at Waynesboro on March 2, 1865, where almost all the men of the regiment were captured with their commander, acting Major John L. Caynor, and much of General Early's Valley Army. The few men that escaped and the remaining men not present were disbanded at Christiansburg, Virginia on April 12, 1865 after learning of Lee's surrender.
Statistically, 2,053 men served in the Sixtieth over the course of four years, and three hundred & sixty-four men of this regiment gave their lives as the ultimate sacrifice for the Cause. Fourteen officers and 139 enlisted men died as a result of battle where their regimental flag fluttered overhead. Essentially, 50% of this regiment were casualties at some time during the war.