Faces of the 12th Virginia Infantry ("Petersburg Regiment"): John Pegram May, Killed at Second Manassas

Caption:  John Pegram May

Credit:  National Archives

Born in 1829, John Pegram May was a Petersburg lawyer.  In 1852, he raised the Petersburg City Guard, which at the time of John Brown's raid in 1859 formed part of the 39th Regiment Virginia State Militia.  The City Guard served in the security detail at Charles Town, Virginia, for Brown's hanging on December 2, 1859.  By April 20, 1861, the City Guard formed part of the Petersburg Battalion, which departed Petersburg that day to help capture Gosport Navy Yard near Norfolk, Virginia.  By that time, May had three brothers in the City Guard.  In Norfolk the battalion formed the nucleus of the 12th Virginia Infantry, also known as the Petersburg Regiment.  May was a very conscientious officer who would not apply for leave as the evacuation approached in early 1862.  On May 1 of that year he was elected major of the Petersburg Regiment.  On May 7, he departed Norfolk for Petersburg with a battalion of the regiment, arriving next day.  

At Second Manassas, command of the 12th Virginia devolved upon May after its colonel moved up to brigade command when the brigadier was wounded after crossing the Manassas-Sudley Road.  The regiment reached the woods’ edge at Henry House Hill’s southern base.  There, facing the Federal army’s extreme left, the 12th halted.  Its brigade soon entered the trees, where it confronted Regulars from Sykes’ division.  The Unionists were hurrying into line fifty yards away.  The Petersburg Regiment's men fired first.  The 12th’s soldiers received deadly enemy musketry while lying down on Henry House Hill’s slope.  The Federal volleys devastated the regiment.  The Regulars killed two color bearers and another member of the color guard.  Enemy bullets also killed May and wounded two of his brothers, one of them mortally.  The only three captains present with the 12th went down wounded.  Command of the regiment fell to a first lieutenant.