Does anyone know where I can get a unit history for the Alabama 8th? They camped on what is now my place during the winter of 63/64 so I would like to know more about them.
THE EIGHTH ALABAMA INFANTRY.
The Eighth Alabama infantry regiment deserves special mention.
It was the first Confederate regiment to be enlisted for the
war.
Its first service was at Yorktown. It fought in the battle of
Williamsburg, May 5th, and at Fair Oaks, May 31 and June 1,
1862, in both of which engagements it took an important part
and its losses were very severe.
It was then transferred to the brigade of Gen. Cadmus M. Wilcox
and was greatly distinguished at Mechanicsville, June 26th.
Two days later it was prominent in the assault upon the enemy
at Gaines' Mill and on June 30th was again in the midst of the
conflict at Frayser's Farm.
It was present, though not severely engaged, at Manassas and
Harper's Ferry, and was in the thickest of the fight at
Antietam, September 17th. It fought with its usual bravery at
Gettysburg, July 2, 1863; the Wilderness, May 5, 6, and 7,
1864; Spottsylvania, May 8th to 18th; Salem Church, Cold
Harbor, June 1 to 12, 1864.
It formed a portion of the troops engaged at the Weldon
railroad, June 22 and 23, 1864; was distinguished at the
capture of the Crater, July 30th, and was also warmly engaged
in the battle on the plank road below Petersburg.
Upon its organization, its colonel was John A.Winston, who was
succeeded by Young L. Royston, and he by Hilary A. Herbert, who
commanded in many hard-fought battles, being severely wounded
at Sharpsburg and the Wilderness. Colonel Herbert has since
achieved eminence at the bar of Alabama and in legislative
halls, having served 16 years in the Congress of the United
States, and as secretary of the navy under Cleveland's second
administration.
Other field officers were Lieutenant-Colonel Frazier, Thomas E.
Irby, killed at the Wilderness, John P. Emrich, wounded at
Petersburg and at Gaines' Mill, and Duke Nall, who was mortally
wounded at the Wilderness.
Capts. L. F. Summers and P. Loughry, and Lieut. Joshua Kennedy
were killed at Seven Pines; Capt. Thomas Phelan, Lieuts. C. M.
Maynard, Lane, Augustus Jansen, at Gaines' Mill and Frayser's
Farm, and Capt. R. A. McCrary at Chancellorsville. Lieut. John
D. McLaughlin died of wounds received in the battles before
Richmond.
Source: Confederate Military History, Vol VIII pp. 79-80
.......................................................................................................
THE EIGHTH ALABAMA REGIMENT
A MEMORY SKETCH BY
CAPT. T. C. MONROE, MAGNOLIA, ARK.
I was sergeant in Company K, 8th Alabama Regiment, and later
first lieutenant, and then captain commanding the consolidated
Companies C and H of the regiment.
About the 8th of June, 1862, ten companies were hurried from
Richmond, Va., to Yorktown to participate in the battle of Big
Bethel on the Peninsula, going by railroad to West Point,
thence to Yorktown by schooner. Arriving on the morning of the
10th of June (the day of the battle at Big Bethel), we were
hurried forward without organization. On our way we met the
troops returning from Bethel who had fought and won the day.
The principal participant was the grand old 1st North Carolina
Regiment commanded by the heroic D. H. Hill.
Returning to Yorktown, we established camp on the bend down the
York River at a sawmill near the famous Cornwallis Cave. Ex-
Gov. John A. Winston, in command of the regiment, was the only
regimental officer present. Later Maj. Tom Irby, of Dallas
County, arrived, and still later Lieutenant Colonel Frazer, a
West Point graduate, arrived, thus completing the regimental
officers, except Lieut. Tom Phelan, of Montgomery, who had been
appointed adjutant of the regiment, but had not yet arrived;
and, it being necessary to perfect the organization at as early
a day as possible, the writer was detached and served as
adjutant, my father having been a close personal friend of
Colonel Winston.
My first duty was to secure muster rolls of each of the ten
companies of the regiment, and the companies were formed in the
following manner as to dates of the commissions of the captains
of each company -- to wit:
Company A, Capt. (later Col.) Y. L. Royster Perry County.
Company F. Capt. (later Col.) Hilary A. Herbert, Butler County.
Company D, Captain Kent (later resigned), Dallas County.
Company I, Captain , later Captain Branagan, killed in the
battle of Mobile.
Company C, Captain Ketchum (resigned), Mobile.
Company H. Captain Cleveland (resigned), Mobile.
Company E, Capt. Daviss (later resigned), Macon County.
Company K, Captain (later Lieutenant Colonel).
Company K, Capt. (later Lieut. Col.) Duke Nall, died of wounds,
Perry County.
Company G. Capt. (Lieut. Col.) John P. Emerich, survived.
Company B. Captain , later Robinson, Pike County.
Each of these companies had more than one hundred men, rank and
file, thus making as fine a body of young men as could be
mustered from their respective counties. This regiment
participated in all the general battles from Seven Pines to
Appomattox, surrendering with less than two hundred men, and
had received quite a number of recruits during the four years'
service.
Lieut. Tom Kirby was killed May 5, 1862, at Williamsburg;
Colonel Winston resigned June 1, 1862; Captain Phelan, from
adjutant to captain Company A, was killed in the Seven Days'
Battle, 1862; Col. Y. L. Royster was severely wounded at
Chancellorsville in 1863 and retired; Col. H. A. Herbert, who
was Secretary of the United States Navy under Cleveland, was
badly wounded at Gettysburg and retired; Col. Duke Nall was
fatally wounded in the battle of the Wilderness; Col. John P.
Emerich (a gallant Prussian) survived the war, and died later
at his home in Mobile; Colonel Frazer was promoted to brigadier
and later to major general, and was assigned a command with the
army of General Bragg.
The 8th Alabama Regiment was a part of Wilcox's Brigade,
composed of the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 14th Alabama
Regiments, commanded by the gallant Gen. C. M. Wilcox until the
battle of Gettysburg, when he was promoted to major general and
placed in command of Pender's Division, Pender having been
killed on the first day of that famous battle.
Our brigade was in the division of Maj. Gen. Richard H.
Anderson until the battle of the Wilderness, May 5, 1864, when
General Longstreet was wounded and General Anderson was
assigned to the command of Longstreet's Corps; then General
Mahone was assigned to the command of our (Anderson's)
division, which was composed of the following brigades:
Wilcox's Alabama Brigade, Wright's Georgia Brigade, Mahone's
Virginia Brigade, Posey's Mississippi Brigade, and Finegan's
Florida Brigade.
Our corps, commanded by the gallant and heroic Gen. A. P. Hill,
was composed of Mahone's Division, Heth's Division, and
Pender's (later Wilcox's) Division.
Source: Confederate Veteran vol XVIII p.226
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