James P. Boss was born on April 10, 1843, in Leesburg, Virginia, to Samuel Matthew Boss and Elizabeth Fox. His father was a merchant who owned $6,650 of personal property in 1860. Boss grew up and attended school in Leesburg. He enlisted in the Confederate army on July 13, 1861, and mustered in as a private in Company H of the 8^th Virginia Infantry later that day.

 

The regiment took part in the Seven Days’ Battles, the Second Battle of Bull Run, the Battle of Antietam, the Battle of Fredericksburg, and the Battle of Gettysburg. One contemporary writer described him as the “pet of his Reg[iment].” Boss was a “perfect little hero,” the writer noted, and “his comrades all concur in saying that they have never seen him flinch, or draw back.” He was fatally wounded at Gettysburg, and he died on July 19, 1863.

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