2nd West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment

The 2nd West Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment that served in the Union Army during the American Civil War.

Service
The 2nd West Virginia Cavalry was organized at Parkersburg in western Virginia between September and November 1861. The regiment was composed almost entirely of volunteers from Ohio, with 9 companies organized from the counties of Lawrence, Meigs, Jackson, Vinton, Washington and Morgan.

The regiment participated in the Grand Review of the Armies and was mustered out on June 30, 1865.

Out of this unit, came 4 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor:
 * Major William H. Powell received his Medal of Honor for "distinguised services in raid, where with 20 men, he charged and captured the enemy's camp, 500 strong, without the loss of man or gun" at Sinking Creek, Va on 26 November 1862.
 * Private Joseph Kimball, of Company B, for "capture of flag of the 6th North Carolina Infantry" at Sailors' Creek on 6 April 1865.
 * Private Samuel O. McElhinny, for "capture of flag" at Sailors' Creek on 6 April 1865.
 * Private Bernard Shields, of Company E, for "capture of flag of the Washington Artillery" at Appomattox, VA on 8 April 1865.

Casualties
The 2nd West Virginia Cavalry suffered 4 officers and 77 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded in battle and 115 enlisted men dead from disease for a total of 196 fatalities.