8th Virginia Cavalry was organized early in 1862 with nine companies but increased its number to eleven to July. Many of the men were recruited in Smyth, Nelson, Kanawha, and Tazewell counties. The unit confronted the Federals in western Virginia, fought in East Tennessee then returned to western Virginia. Later it participated in Early’s Shenandoah Valley operations and the Appomattox Campaign. This regiment contained 225 effectives in April, 1864. However, none were included in the surrender at Appomattox because it had cut through the Federal lines and disbanded.

The field officers were Colonels James M. Corns and Walter H. Jenifer; Lieutenant Colonels Thomas P. Bowen, A.F. Cook, Henry Fitzhugh, and Albert G. Jenkins; and Major P.M. Edmondson.

[Source: National Park Service, Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System]

West Virginia counties contributing soldiers: Boone, Cabell, Calhoun, Doddridge, Kanawha, Lewis, Mason, Putnam, Wayne, Wood

8th Virginia Cavalry – National Park Service

8th Virginia Cavalry, Virginia Regimental History Series, by Jack L. Dickinson, H.E. Howard Publishing, 1986.

8th Virginia Cavalry, Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Virginia, by Stewart Sifakis, pp. 115-116, entry #204.

8th Virginia Cavalry, A Guide to Virginia’s Military Organizations, 1861-1865, by Lee A. Wallace, Jr., pp. 49-50.

War-Time Reminiscences of James D. Sedinger, Company E, 8th Virginia Cavalry (Border Rangers), West Virginia History, Volume 51 (1992) pp. 55-78.