The 7th Virginia Cavalry also known as Ashby's Cavalry was a Confederate

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 cavalry

Cavalry

Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...

 regiment

Regiment

A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...

 raised in the spring of 1861 by Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Angus W. McDonald, Sr.  The regiment was composed primarily of men from the counties of the upper Shenandoah Valley

Shenandoah Valley

The Shenandoah Valley is both a geographic valley and cultural region of western Virginia and West Virginia in the United States. The valley is bounded to the east by the Blue Ridge Mountains, to the west by the eastern front of the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians , to the north by the Potomac River...

 as well as from the counties of Fauquier

Fauquier County, Virginia

As of the census of 2000, there were 55,139 people, 19,842 households, and 15,139 families residing in the county. The population density was 85 people per square mile . There were 21,046 housing units at an average density of 32 per square mile...

 and Loudoun

Loudoun County, Virginia

Loudoun County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia, and is part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, the county is estimated to be home to 312,311 people, an 84 percent increase over the 2000 figure of 169,599. That increase makes the county the fourth...

. Two companies contained men from the border counties of Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

.

History

The regiment was initially assigned to guarding the upper Potomac

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 and was attached to the command of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson in the Valley. In the spring of 1862 the regiment took part in Jackson's Valley Campaign

Valley Campaign

Jackson's Valley Campaign was Confederate Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's famous spring 1862 campaign through the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia during the American Civil War...

, where the exploits of the unit and its commander, Turner Ashby

Turner Ashby

Turner Ashby, Jr. was a Confederate cavalry commander in the American Civil War. He had achieved prominence as Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's cavalry commander, in the grade of colonel, in the Shenandoah Valley before he was killed in battle in 1862...

, became famous on both sides of the war. Near the conclusion of the campaign, Ashby was mortally wounded and Col. Richard Henry Dulany

Richard Henry Dulany

Colonel Richard Henry Dulany was born in Loudoun County, Virginia and was the son of John Peyton Dulany and Mary Ann DeButts...

 took command of the regiment, which had swelled to 29 companies. The regiment was reorganized at the end of the campaign, with the original 10 companies remaining and the excess 19 forming the 12th Regiment

12th Virginia Cavalry

The 12th Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

 and 17th Battalion of Virginia Cavalry. Together with these two regiments, the 7th would become the nucleus of the famed Laurel Brigade.

As part of the brigade, the 7th saw major action during the Gettysburg Campaign

Gettysburg Campaign

The Gettysburg Campaign was a series of battles fought in June and July 1863, during the American Civil War. After his victory in the Battle of Chancellorsville, Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia moved north for offensive operations in Maryland and Pennsylvania. The...

 in 1863 and was at the famed cavalry Battle of Brandy Station

Battle of Brandy Station

The Battle of Brandy Station, also called the Battle of Fleetwood Hill, was the largest predominantly cavalry engagement of the American Civil War, as well as the largest to take place ever on American soil. It was fought at the beginning of the Gettysburg Campaign by the Union cavalry under Maj....

 that same year. They took part in Jubal A. Early's ill-fated Valley Campaigns of 1864

Valley Campaigns of 1864

The Valley Campaigns of 1864 were American Civil War operations and battles that took place in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia from May to October 1864. Military historians divide this period into three separate campaigns, but it is useful to consider the three together and how they...

 and were at Appomatox Courthouse, though much of the unit escaped through federal lines and returned home to disband rather than taking parole with the rest of the Army of Northern Virginia

Army of Northern Virginia

The Army of Northern Virginia was the primary military force of the Confederate States of America in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War, as well as the primary command structure of the Department of Northern Virginia. It was most often arrayed against the Union Army of the Potomac...

.

Companies

• A - Fauquier Mountain Rangers (Fauquier Co.)
• B - (1st) Howard Dragoons (Howard Co., Md.)
• B - (2nd) Letcher Brock's Gap Rifles (Rockingham Co.)
• C - Shenandoah Rangers (Shenandoah Co.)
• D - Jordan's Co. (Page Co.)
• E - Bowen's Mounted Rangers (Warren Co.)
• F - Hampshire Rifleman (Hampshire Co.)
• G - Mason Rangers (Maryland and Loudoun Co.)
• H - (1st) Brock's Gap Sharpshooters (Rockingham Co.)
• H - (2nd) Shoup's Co. (Rockingham Co.)
• I - Shand's Company(Rockingham Co.)
• K - Miller's Company (Shenandoah Co.)