The 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. From May 1861, the war began affecting events in the state of Missouri. In 1862, Confederate recruiting activities took place in Missouri, and a cavalry regiment was formed in Oregon County, the nucleus being former members of the Missouri State Guard. On September 2, the unit entered Confederate service, but it was reclassified as infantry ten days later. After many of the men transferred to other units, the regiment was reclassified as a battalion on October 19 and named the 7th Missouri Infantry Battalion, also known as Mitchell's Missouri Infantry. It participated in a Confederate offensive at the Battle of Prairie Grove on December 7. During the battle, the unit made several charges against the Union lines but was repeatedly repulsed by artillery fire. The regiment spent most of early 1863 encamped near Little Rock and Pine Bluff in Arkansas.
On July 23, 1863, the unit was officially named the 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment. Later that year, it was part of the abortive Confederate defense of Little Rock before retiring to Camp Bragg near Camden. In March 1864, the regiment was sent south into Louisiana to help defend against the Red River campaign. It was part of a failed attack at the Battle of Pleasant Hill on April 9. After the Union troops involved in the Red River campaign retreated, the 8th Missouri Infantry was sent back to Arkansas, where it pursued the retreating Union soldiers led by Major General Frederick Steele. The regiment took part in a failed attack against Steele on April 30 at the Battle of Jenkins' Ferry. For the remainder of 1864 and the first half of 1865, the unit was stationed at several points in Louisiana and Arkansas. The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department surrendered on June 2, 1865, and the men of the 8th Missouri Infantry Regiment were paroled on June 7, ending the regiment's military service.
Background
At the time of the 1860 United States Presidential Election, slavery was one of the defining features of Southern culture, and the ideology of states' rights was used to defend the institution. After the election of Abraham Lincoln as president in 1860, such issues came to a head and a movement formed that framed secession as the only way to preserve slavery. On December 20, the state of South Carolina seceded and six others followed in early 1861, thus forming the Confederate States of America on February 4, 1861. On April 12, the American Civil War began with the Battle of Fort Sumter, and four more states soon seceded and joined the Confederacy, bringing it to 11 states. Meanwhile, the state of Missouri was politically divided. The state legislature voted against secession, but Claiborne F. Jackson, the governor of Missouri, supported it. After the pro-Confederate militia threatening the St. Louis Arsenal was dispersed on May 10 at the Camp Jackson affair, a new pro-Confederate militia forcethe Missouri State Guardwas formed under the command of Sterling Price, who was appointed as Major General. Nathaniel Lyon, a Brigadier General in the Union Army, occupied the state capital on June 15, and the Missouri State Guard withdrew to southwestern Missouri.
The Missouri State Guard won several victories in the latter part of 1861, but by the end of the year Union reinforcements restricted them to the southwestern part of the state On November 3, 1861, Jackson and the pro-secession elements of the state legislature voted to secede and join the Confederate States of America as a government-in-exile; the anti-secession elements of the legislature had previously voted against secession, leading to the state having both a Union government and a nominal Confederate one. In February 1862, a Union advance led Price to abandon Missouri for Arkansas, where his men, as part of a larger Confederate force were defeated at the Battle of Pea Ridge on March 7 and 8. The victory gave the Union control of Missouri. Later that year, the Confederates reestablished some presence in Missouri through guerrilla activities and recruiting efforts.