The 2nd Florida was organized near Jacksonville, Florida on July 13, 1861 and mustered into Confederate service for a twelve-month term of enlistment. The regiment was sent to the Eastern Theater of the war and placed in the Confederacy's main army in Virginia. The regiment first saw combat the following year during the Peninsula Campaign at the Battles of Williamsburg, Seven Pines, Gaines Mill, and Malvern Hill.