The flag of the 42nd Virginia Infantry Regiment follows the standard Army of Northern Virginia battle flag design. The familiar "Southern Cross" consists of a blue Saint Andrew's cross on a red square and 13 stars representing the 11 Confederate States plus Kentucky and Missouri. The flag bears the regiment's identity (42 VA) in the center and its battle honors in the triangles made by the cross.

The 42nd Virginia Infantry regiment was comprised of 10 companies of men who came from the central and southwestern parts of what is now the Commonwealth of Virginia. Company A - Henry Volunteers. Henry County. Enlisted June 15, 1861 at Lynchburg, Campbell County. Company B - Floyd Guards. Enlisted May 25, 1861 at Floyd Court House, Floyd County. Assigned to regiment on June 15, 1861. Company C - Buford Grays. Enlisted May 18, 1861 at Lisbon, Bedford County. Assigned to regiment on June 22, 1861 Company D - Campbell-Lee Guards. Enlisted May 31, 1861 at Yellow Branch, Campbell County. Assigned to regiment on June 27, 1861 Company E - Dixie Grays. Enlisted June 4, 1861 at Salem, Roanoke County. Assigned to regiment July 1, 1861. Company F - Leatherwood Fencibles. Enlisted June 22, 1861 at Martinsville, Henry County. Company G - Second Company of Volunteers from Henry County. Enlisted July 3, 1861 at Lynchburg, Campbell County. Company H - Patrick Henry Volunteers. Enlisted May 22, 1861 at Spoon Creek, Patrick County. Assigned to regiment on July 5, 1861. Company I - Campbell Guards. Campbell County. Enlisted July 11, 1861 at Lynchburg, Campbell County. Company K - Franklin Invincibles. Enlisted June 17, 1861 at Rocky Mount, Franklin County.

ROSTER OF THE 42nd VIRGINIA INFANTRY

Most were citizen soldiers; only three or four officers had had any formal military training. The companies were mustered into service during the months of June and July 1861. Company I enlisted into service with the Confederate States Army on July 11, 1861, at Lynchburg, Virginia. Although Company I was native to Campbell County, Lynchburg was the site of enlsitment and a dispatching point for many troops because of its strategic location on three railroads -- the Virginia-Tennessee, the Southside, and the Orange & Alexandria.

HOME LIFE

The dwellings and possessions of the men were also mostly of a humble nature. Their homes generally had few rooms and detached outhouses and kitchens (as a safety precaution against fire). Because of the rural environment and the difficulty of travel, most had their own smokehouses for curing meat, chicken coops, and storehouses and barns for animals and farm implements.

Few men of Company I owned slaves, although it was a practice in the area for the more prosperous to lease slaves from their owners to help with their crops or in their homes. Lease prices in the years immediately preceding the War ranged from $100 to $150 per year for a Negro boy or man and $40 to $55 per year for a woman. Help with labor-intensive jobs such as threashing wheat or cutting tobacco (a main money crop) came from gatherings of neighbors and large numbers of children.

Religion was important to the men who formed Company I. They were Protestant; a few were Episcopalian, but most were Presbyetrian, Methodist, or Baptist, and churches or chapels were easily accessible in most communities. (The complacent Quakers had long since been driven further west by the fiery Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, who didn't hold with their peace-loving ways.)

THE WAR YEARS

• 1861
• 1862
• 1863
• 1864
• 1865

[Compiled by D. Jean Holt, February 1986]