The 12th West Virginia Infantry Regiment was organized at
Wheeling in
western Virginia on August 30, 1862, and was assigned to duty in the
Shenandoah Valley as part of the
VIII Army Corps's Middle Department until January 1863. For much of the first half of 1863, the regiment served at
Winchester, Virginia, under
Maj. Gen. Robert H. Milroy, and were defeated in their first significant combat action during the
Second Battle of Winchester, being pushed off a wooded ridgeline near
Kernstown, Virginia, by elements of the
Confederate brigade of
John B. Gordon on June 13. Two days later, they were scattered by
Robert E. Rodes' attack and reassembled at
Bloody Run, Pennsylvania. The 12th then served in Col.
Andrew T. McReynolds' command at
Martinsburg, West Virginia, until December 1863. The regiment was a part of the Department of West Virginia until December 1864, and it saw action in several fights during the
Valley Campaigns of 1864, including the
Battle of Opequon or Third Winchester, not far from the scene of its first combat. At the end of the year, the 12th West Virginia joined the
Army of the James's 2nd Brigade, Independent Division,
XXIV Army Corps. The regiment served in the
Siege of Petersburg, and on April 2, 1865, distinguished itself for gallantry in a desperate hand-to-hand conflict that resulted in the seizure of Confederate-held Fort Gregg. Maj. Gen. John Gibbon, commanding the XXIV Corps, presented the regiment an engraved golden eagle for their flagstaff, with the inscription "Presented by Maj.-Gen'l John Gibbon to the 12th W. Va. Volunteer Infantry, for Gallant Conduct in the Assault upon Fort Gregg, April 2, 1865." Corporal Andrew O. Apple of Company I was also later awarded the U.S. Medal of Honor for saving the regiment's flag that day. The 12th West Virginia mustered out of military service on June 16, 1865. ==Casualties==