The 16th Virginia Cavalry was created in early 1863 when Milton Ferguson's Battalion of Cavalry was combined with Otis Caldwell's Battalion of Cavalry in Salem, Virginia. Milton Ferguson was elected colonel of the regiment. It was present at Gettysburg and was part of General Jenkins' Brigade that itself was part of General Jeb Stuart's Cavalry Division of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. The 16th Virginia Cavalry suffered its biggest defeat in the Battle of Murder Hollow in Wayne County, West Virginia, which happened to be the county where Ferguson's Battalion originated. Fifty men of the regiment along with Colonel Ferguson were camped in the hollow and were attacked by more than four hundred Federal troops under Colonel George Gallup of Louisa, Kentucky. Thirty-eight men of the 16th were captured and five were killed. An additional eleven died in prison. William Graham served as colonel of the regiment until Ferguson was exchanged later that year. The regiment disbanded at Lynchburg after Lee surrendered at Appomattox.
The 16th Virginia Cavalry has its place in American history, perhaps a regrettable one, as the Confederate unit that caused the first Union casualty on Union soil - Corporal William Rihl.