Its members were from Portsmouth and the counties of Roanoke, Chesterfield, Isle of Wight, Nansemond, Lunenburg, Dinwiddie, and Norfolk.The regiment served in the Department of Norfolk and in June, 1862, totalled 435 men.

During the war it was attached to General Armistead's, Barton's, and Steuart's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia.

It fought in many engagements from Seven Pines to Gettysburg and after serving in North Carolina participated in the Battle of Drewry's Bluff.

The unit reported 47 casualties at Drewry's Bluff, and many captured at Five Forks and Sayler's Creek, and surrendered 2 officers and 37 men on April 9, 1865.

Its field officers were Colonels David J. Godwin, James J. Phillips, and Francis H. Smith; Lieutenant Colonels James S. Gilliam, John T. L. Preston, and William J. Richardson; and Majors Stapleton Crutchfield, Mark B. Hardin, and John C. Owens.