The 17th fought with the Army of Northern Virginia from Williamsburg to Fredericksburg, then participated in Longstreet's Suffolk Expedition.

During the Gettysburg Campaign it was on detached duty at Gordonsville and later served in Tennessee and North Carolina.

Returning to Virginia it fought at Drewry's Bluff and Cold Harbor, saw action in the Petersburg trenches, and ended the war at Appomattox.

It reported 48 casualties at Second Manassas, 13 at South Mountain, and of the 55 engaged at Sharpsburg about seventy-five percent were disabled.

The field officers were Colonels Montgomery D. Corse, Arthur Herbert, and Morton Marye; Lieutenant Colonels William Munford and Grayson Tyler; and Majors George W. Brent and Robert H. Simpson.