Compiler only identified by e-mail address “mbar@jagunet”.

Also known as 13th Tennessee (Dibrell’s) Cavalry

The 8th Tennessee Cavalry was initially organized in White County as independent partisan rangers on September 4, 1862, with 12 companies under the command of Colonel George G. Dibrell. The first muster was held near Sparta in September 1862, and consisted of 921 men, primarily farm workers from Jackson, Overton, Putnam and White counties.

On October 8, the regiment marched from Sparta to Murfreesboro, Tennessee to join Brigadier General Nathan B. Forrest’s Brigade. There it was reorganized into 10 companies and mustered into the CSA as the 8th Regiment, Tennessee Cavalry. While at Murfreesboro, the regiment was equipped with 400 flintlock muskets and 600 sabres — the only issue of arms ever made to it by the Confederate Government. Its first military assignment was to scout and establish pickets outside the city of Nashville. A skirmish at Neely’s Bend, north of the city, was the first of several while stationed in that area.

The 8th Tennessee Cavalry was involved in a remarkable number of battles and skirmishes throughout the Civil War and suffered considerable casualties. It fought in engagements ranging from west Tennessee into southern Virginia, through the Carolinas and into Georgia. The men fought not only on horseback, but frequently engaged the enemy dismounted and sometimes in hand-to-hand combat as happened at Chickamauga. Although it was regularly short of arms and supplies and its recruits usually had little or no training, the regiment earned a reputation for discipline and dependability. Writing after the war, General Dibrell wrote “that not a piece of artillery was ever lost when supported by the Eighth. Huggin’s company of artillery used to say that they had no fear of going into battle when supported by the Tennessee cavalry brigade, of which the Eighth was a part.”

Its last engagement was at Beulah, NC on April 11, 1865. The next day, the regiment learned that rumors of Lee’s surrender were true and marched to Greensboro, NC. From there, it helped escort President Jefferson Davis and his cabinet to Abbeville, SC where the command was dissolved. The 8th Tennessee, consisting of only 381 men, marched to Washington, Georgia and surrendered to the 4th Iowa Cavalry on May 3rd. The men were paroled on May 9, 1865, and returned to Tennessee.

While camped in Polk County, the men were confronted by a squad of federal soldiers who brought them to the nearby city of Cleveland. They were placed under guard and individually searched for any item bearing the “U.S.” insignia. The regiment was allowed to leave later that evening, but not without enduring some harassment from a few of the local citizens.

The 8th Tennessee entered Chattanooga the following day and suffered more humiliation. The provost-marshal, falsely claiming that he was under orders, confiscated the horses from those with the rank of private. After the parole of each soldier was inspected, the regiment, annoyed but in good spirits, continued its homeward journey on foot.

The 8th Tennessee Cavalry is sometimes referred to as the 13th Tennessee Cavalry. Indeed, the A. & I.G.O. recognized the unit by the latter designation. After the war, General Dibrell provided an explanation:

When the regiment was mustered at Murfreesboro by Col. Charles Carroll it was the Eighth Regiment of Tennessee Cavalry, and it bore that name thereafter. Col. Carroll was captured before sending off his muster, and when received at Richmond the regiment was numbered the Thirteenth; but we never recognized that number, and it was not so known in the army.

It is important not to confuse this regiment with the 8th Tennessee (Smith’s) Cavalry. That unit was organized in January 1863, and was known in the field as the 4th Tennessee Cavalry.

A page at the archived site below, created about 1999, contained a photo from a 1912 regimental reunion that is not in the archive.  Those identified in the photo are as follows (8th Cavalry members in italics):

Back row, from left: Bob Stewart, Milton Owen, Braxton Quarles, Newton Rurk, Charlie Bradford, Hugh Terry, Alex Weeks, Amos Williams, unidentified, Lafayette Sliger, Will Cumby, Nelson Hyder, Dolph Watson. Center row: Hicks Buck, Joe Hudgens, Jacob Davis, John Quarles, Mack Wilhite, John Mayberry, Jackson Davis, Robert Alcorn, Joe Dyer. Front row: Mansfield Whitson, James Thompson, John Farris, unidentified, Dr. Lemuel Rux McClain, unidentified, Jim Nickles. 

Note from the Coordinator for this TNGenWeb site:  In 1999, the 8th Tennessee Cavalry site below had photos from a regimental reunion held about 1912 and 1920.  That photo is not archived.  We would be grateful for a digital copy of it for this Web site.

References

Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Tennessee; Microcopy No. 268, rolls 55, 56; National Archives, Washington, DC.

G. G. Dibrell, “Eighth Tennessee Cavalry,” Military Annals of Tennessee: Confederate, John Berrien Lindsley, ed., 1886 (Wilmington, NC: Broadfoot Publishing, 1995), 2: 651-681.

Stewart Sifakis, Compendium of the Confederate Armies: Tennessee (New York: Facts on File, 1992), 62-64.

Mary Hopson, Stray Leaves from Putnam County History.

Tennesseans in the Civil War (Nashville: Civil War Centennial Commission, 1964), 1: 83-85.

The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies (Washington: GPO, 1880-1901), ser. 1, vol. 23, pt. 1, pp. 847-848.

Notes on the Author’s Ancestors

Evan Bartlett was a member of Company K, along with assorted brothers and cousins. He was wounded near Sparta, Tennessee, on August 17, 1863, in action against the 4th Michigan Cavalry. Colonel Dibrell was in personal command of Company K during this fight and recalled Evan by name as among the wounded. Dibrell later wrote, “no set of soldiers ever fought more bravely when they knew they were fighting against such large odds. But we were at home, fighting for our own dear ones, and we preferred death rather than defeat.”

David Farley, a descendant of a Revolutionary War patriot, served in Company H with his younger brother, James, and other family members. He received a gunshot wound to his jaw at the battle of Chickamauga, Georgia, in September of 1863. The following year, in October, he saw his brother suffer from a near fatal wound at Saltville, Virginia. On December 15, 1864, David was captured near Athens, Tennessee, in action against Sherman’s army. David spent the remainder of the war at Camp Chase, Ohio, where he survived a case of smallpox.

Source: http://users.jagunet.com/~mbar/8tncav.htm — this page was dated 23 March 1999; now defunct but available via the Internet Archive.