8th Texas Infantry

The Eighth Texas Infantry battalion of the Confederate States Army was organized by General Alfred M. Hobbyin Refugio County on May 14, 1862. It later became known as Hobby's Eighth Texas Infantry regiment. It consisted of three companies under captains Robert E. Jones, William E. McCampbell, and P. H. Breeden. A fourth company under Edwin E. Hobby was added on June 20, 1862, and a fifth, under José M. Peñaloza, completed the battalion. The battalion trained at Camp Charles Russell near Banquete until July 19, 1862, when it was ordered to defend Corpus Christi as a part of the Twenty-ninth Brigade. There it was joined by various other units of light artillery and mounted rifles and in February 1863 became the Eighth Texas Infantry regiment, with a staff including John Ireland, J. A. Throckmorton, Daniel D. Shea, and others.

As a battalion, the force prevented a federal invasion at Corpus Christi in August 1862 and in September captured J. W. Kittridge of the federal fleet. In 1863, after organization of the regiment, the Eighth guarded Fort Esperanza on Matagorda Island, kept a battery on Mustang Island, and in May drove Union troops off St. Joseph's Island. In the fall of 1863 superior Union forces under Nathaniel P. Banks were able to force Hobby's troops back to the San Antonio River. After December 1863 they were ordered transferred to East Texas, but many entered Waul's Legion instead. Part of the Eighth regiment was stationed on Galveston Island in the winter of 1863; other units in the area of Indianola and Lavaca engaged in skirmishes with the federals as late as February 1864. Most of the units fought under Thomas N. Waul in the battles of Mansfield and Pleasant Hill in April 1864 and from then to the end of the war were employed in coastal defense in Texas. The regiment was mustered out of service on May 22, 1865.

8th Texas Infantry History
Texans in the Civil War
The General Store