The 20th Virginia was assembled in July, 1861, with men from Richmond and the counties of Lunenburg, Powhatan, Buckingham, Prince Edward, Halifax, and Brunswick.

An unsuccessful attempt was made to reorganize, and later the two companies were assigned to the 59th Virginia Infantry.

Lieutenant Colonels James R. Crenshaw, John Pegram, and Nathaniel Tyler were in command.

In the science fiction short story, Field Test by Keith Laumer, a newly designed and built Bolo Mark XX Model B is assigned to "the 20th Virginia, a regiment ancient and honorable, with a history dating back to Terra Insula".

This article about a specific military unit of the American Civil War is a stub.