The 54th Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 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 Virginia

Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia , is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" after the eight U.S. presidents born there...

 for service in the Confederate States Army

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...

 during the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. It fought mostly with the Army of Tennessee

Army of Tennessee

The Army of Tennessee was the principal Confederate army operating between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River during the American Civil War. It was formed in late 1862 and fought until the end of the war in 1865, participating in most of the significant battles in the Western Theater...

.

54th Infantry Regiment was organized in October,1861. It was soon ordered to Kentucky and took an active part in the engagement at Middle Creek. Later the unit was assigned to Trigg's, Reynolds', Brown's and Reynolds' Consolidated, and Palmer's Brigade, Army of Tennessee.

It participated in many battles of the army from Chickamauga to Atlanta, endured Hood's winter operations, and fought in North Carolina. On April 9, 1865, it merged into the 54th Virginia Infantry Battalion.

This regiment sustained 47 casualties at Chickamauga, totalled 390 men and 329 arms in December, 1863, and had 128 present in December 1864 and 212 in January 1865.

The field officers were Colonel Robert C. Trigg; Lieutenant Colonels Henry A. Edmundson

Henry A. Edmundson

Henry Alonzo Edmundson was a nineteenth century congressman and lawyer from Virginia.-Early life:Born in Blacksburg, Virginia, Edmundson attended private schools as a child and went on to graduate from Georgetown University...

, William B. Shelor, and John J. Wade; and Majors John S. Deyerle, Austin Harman, and James C. Taylor.