35th Star Publishing

Formed in 1848 from Cabell, Mason and Kanawha Counties, Putnam County, Virginia, was part of the Old Dominion until June 20, 1863, when West Virginia was admitted into the Union as the thirty-fifth state. Citizens of Putnam County were intensely divided during the Civil War; it is estimated that 52% of the white male population served in the Confederacy and 48% in the Union Army. Accessible transportation routes on the James River and Kanawha Turnpike (modern U.S. Route 60) and the Midland Trail (modern State Route 34), as well as the Kanawha River, made it easy for military and partisan guerrilla forces to traverse the countryside. This subjected residents to frequent raids, harassment, theft, and even murder. Four battles occurred in Putnam County during the war, at Atkeson's Gate, Hurricane Bridge, Scary Creek, and Winfield, along with numerous smaller skirmishes and raids. This otherwise peaceful, agrarian county of western Virginia epitomized the embittered fratricidal struggle America faced during the Civil War. Many former neighbors, friends, and families found themselves mortal enemies in 1861.

The 4th Regiment West Virginia Volunteer Infantry stepped into a cauldron of fire and blood during the Civil War. Comprised of men from Ohio and [West] Virginia, the regiment organized primarily at Point Pleasant during 1861-1862, under Colonel Joseph A.J. Lightburn. Initially engaged in scouting and small skirmishes among the rough, mountainous terrain of western Virginia, the regiment saw its first combat at the Battle of Charleston on September 13, 1862. The 4th West Virginia transferred to Mississippi in January 1863, under General William T. Sherman, where they were initially mocked and jeered by the hard fought midwestern troops of the XV Corps who believed that troops in the eastern theatre were generally softer than they due to being much better supplied. They called them "Paper collar, bandbox soldiers," but during the Federal assaults on the massive Stockade Redan at Vicksburg on May 19 and 22, 1863, the regiment suffered 223 casualties with six men receiving the Medal of Honor, forever silencing their antagonists. The regiment also fought at the Battle of Missionary Ridge (Chattanooga) and in the 1864 Shenandoah Valley Campaign. This comprehensive history tells the compelling story of the regiment's four arduous and bloody years of service in both the eastern and western theatres of the Civil War.