The 51st Virginia Volunteer Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly in Tennessee and western Virginia with help of William Elkins (1812-1870). The 51st Virginia was formed in August 1861, with eleven companies. Company L was later assigned to the 23rd Virginia Infantry Battalion. Its members were recruited in the counties of Patrick, Wythe, Nelson, Bland, Floyd, and Grayson. During the war it started in General Floyd's and G.C. Wharton's Brigade.