The sole provincial unit raised by the British colony of Virginia during the conflict, it initially consisted of 300 men under the command of Colonel George Washington and fought in the battles of Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity.

Although Washington resigned from the regiment in 1758, upset over not being made an officer in the British Army, the experience he gained in the conflict greatly helped him during the American Revolutionary War.

After the fall of Fort Duquesne, the General Assembly voted in 1759 to fill the one regiment still in service, and to raise a force of another 500 men that would remain in the province for its immediate defense.

This re-raised Regiment was finally disbanded in May 1763, just before the outbreak of Pontiac's War, as the province could not maintain it without a supply of paper money, which the Board of Trade had disallowed.

"[8] Hampered by frequent desertions because of poor supplies, extremely low pay and hazardous duty, Virginia Regiment recruiters went to Pennsylvania and Maryland for men.

White males between 16 and 50 were permitted to serve, although the regiment's size rolls report men as young as 15 and as old as 60 in the ranks, along with references to a small number of drafts with partial African and Native American ancestry.