8th Infantry Regiment was organized by Colonel F.S. Bartow during the spring of 1861. All of its companies had seen prior military service in the Georgia militia and were from Rome, Savannah, and Atlanta, and the counties of Greene, Echols, Pulaski, and Floyd. Early in June the unit was ordered to Virginia and, assigned to F.S. Bartow's Brigade, fought at First Manassas. In April, 1862, it had but 251 men fit for duty and for the balance of the war served under General G.T. Anderson. The 8th was involved in the campaigns of the Army of Northern Virginia from the Seven Days' Battles to Cold Harbor, except when it was with Longstreet at Suffolk, in Georgia, and at Knoxville. It did not take part in the Battle of Chickamauga. The unit participated in the Petersburg siege south and north of the James River and later the Appomattox Campaign. It reported 41 killed and 159 wounded at First Manassas, had 28 killed, 65 wounded, and 11 missing during the Seven Days' Battles, and lost 8 killed and 54 wounded at Second Manassas. It lost more than fifty percent of the 312 engaged at Gettysburg, and from April 14 to May 6, there were 92 disabled, and from August 1 to December 31, 1864, the regiment had 82 killed or wounded. At the surrender it contained 14 officers and 139 men. The field officers were Colonels F.S. Bartow, William M. Gardner, L.M. Lamar, and John R. Towers; Lieutenant Colonels Thomas L. Cooper and Edward J. Magruder; and Majors John F. Cooper and George O. Dawson.
