8th Virginia Cavalry

8th Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment
File:Virginia 1861.svg Flag of Virginia, 1861
Active	Winter 1862 – April 1865
Country	Confederacy
Allegiance	Confederate States of America
Role	Cavalry
Engagements	American Civil War: Valley Campaigns of 1864-Appomattox Campaign
Disbanded	April 1865
Commanders
Notable commanders	Lt. Colonel Albert G. Jenkins

The 8th Virginia Volunteer Cavalry Regiment was a cavalry regiment raised in Virginia for service in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. It fought mostly with the Army of Northern Virginia.

Virginia’s 8th Cavalry Regiment 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 Union 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.

Former U.S. Congressman and Confederate Congressman Albert Jenkins recruited one of the unit's companies as a company of partisan rangers, before it was attached to the regiment and he became commanding officer of the 8th Virginia. He was killed at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain

References

•  This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System, National Park Service".