The 7th Kentucky Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Dick Robinson and mustered in for a three-year enlistment on September 22, 1861.
It was mustered in as the 3rd Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry under the command of Colonel Theophilus Toulmin Garrard.
Despite the change, members of the regiment continued to refer to it as the 3rd Kentucky Infantry (or "Old 3rd") well into 1863.
The regiment was attached to Thomas' Command, Army of the Ohio, to January 1862.
2nd Brigade, 9th Division, Right Wing, XIII Corps (Old), Department of the Tennessee, to December 1862.
Plaquemine, District of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Department of the Gulf, to March 1864, 2nd Brigade, 1st Division, XIII Corps, to June 1864.
Provisional Brigade, District of Baton Rouge, Department of the Gulf, to March 1866.
Colonel Garrard was with these men at a small skirmish at the mouth of Bear Creek.
These men rode into the Battle of Richmond, and were scattered by a rear attack from Scott's Louisiana Cavalry.
Some returned to their homes in eastern Kentucky, others rejoined the army at Cumberland Gap, and a small number retreated with the Union forces to Lexington and then to Louisville.
Garrard joined the shattered remains of General William "Bull" Nelson's army at Louisville.
Many men of the 7th Kentucky were captured and paroled at Richmond, and ordered to report to Cincinnati to await exchange.
It spent the majority of service on garrison duty in Baton Rouge, and mustered out on March 11, 1866.