The 53rd 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 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...

.

The 53rd Virginia was organized in December 1861, by consolidating Tomlin's and Montague's Battalions, and Waddill's Infantry Company. Many of the men were recruited in Halifax, New Kent, Charles City, and Pittsylvania counties. It was assigned to General Armistead's, Barton's, and Steuart's Brigade, Army of Northern Virginia.

The unit was active from Seven Pines to Gettysburg, served in North Carolina, then fought at Drewry's Bluff and Cold Harbor. Later it participated in the long Petersburg siege north of the James River and the Appomattox Campaign. This regiment contained 468 effectives in June, 1862, lost 31 of the 128 engaged at Malvern Hill, and reported 11 casualties during the Maryland Campaign. Of the 435 who saw action at Gettysburg more than thirty percent were disabled, and there were 3 killed, 33 wounded, and 3 missing at Drewry's Bluff. Many were captured at Sayler's Creek, and 6 officers and 74 men surrendered on April 9, 1865.

The field officers were Colonels William E. Starke

William E. Starke

William Edwin Starke was a wealthy Gulf Coast businessman and a brigadier general in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War...

, William R. Aylett, John Grammar, Jr., Carter L. Stevenson

Carter L. Stevenson

Carter Littlepage Stevenson, Jr. was a career military officer, serving in the United States Army in several antebellum wars and then in the Confederate States Army as a general in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.-Early life and career:Stevenson was born to a prominent family in...

, and Harrison B. Tomlin; Lieutenant Colonels Rawley W. Martin, Edgar B. Montague, John C. Timberlake, and George M. Waddill; and Majors Henry Edmundson and William Leigh.