Its members were recruited at Danville and Farmville, and in the counties of Nottoway, Cumberland, Prince Edward, Appomattox, Pittsylvania, and Charlotte.

Reorganized April 1862 with Captains Thomas J. Spencer, Mathew Lyle, Robert Morton Shepperson, Martin Luther Covington, William Henry Smith.

Later it served in North Carolina, returned to Virginia, and took an active part in the battles of Drewry's Bluff and Cold Harbor.

The unit reported 206 casualties during the Seven Days' Battles, and of the 120 engaged in the Maryland Campaign, thirty-six percent of the 312 in action were killed, wounded, or missing.

Robert Lewis Dabney briefly served as chaplain for the regiment, before becoming chief of staff for Stonewall Jackson.