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The 8th Virginia was composed of ten companies. Each one was supposed to have 68 enlisted men  led by four officers (captain, 1st lieutenant, 2nd lieutenant, and ensign). At least one overenlisted and one underenlisted. The overall regiment was commanded by three field officers (colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major) assisted by several staff officers (chaplain, adjutant, surgeon, surgeon's mate, paymaster, and quartermaster). One inherited company was composed men on 1-year enlistments that began in December of 1775. The other nine companies served 2-year enlistments, beginning in the spring of 1776 and ending at Valley Forge in the spring of 1778. An 11th company was raised to replace the 1-year men in 1777. Replacements recruited in 1777 served 3-year enlistments.

​The 8th existed from December 13, 1775 when it was authorized by the Virginia Convention, to September 14, 1778 when it merged with the 4th Virginia and took that number.

I have posted an outline of the regiment's structure, listing officers and some enlisted men (when I have written about them or heard from descendants). This is not intended to be a full "roster" of the regiment, but rather a look at its structure, origins, and organization. The names of known descendants are in brackets after a soldier's name. An alphabetical lift of descendants is available on The Family Page. If you would like to be identified with your ancestor, please send an email over the web form. Your email address will be linked from your name only if you specifically request it.
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A historic marker in Pendleton County, West Virginia tells the story of fifteen year-old William Eagle, who enlisted in the 8th Virginia on Christmas Eve, 1776. This was the Revolution's darkest hour. Washington's dwindling army had fled from the British across New Jersey and was now huddling, frozen by fear and cold on the West Bank of the Delaware. At a moment when few were willing to enlist, this teenage patriot stepped forward. 

Except it isn't true. Eagle's pension gives the same date that appears on the sign, but they are both wrong. The sign probably takes its date from the pension. As far as we know, Eagle served honorably and well. But he didn't enlist until December of 1777 when he was sixteen years old. The evidence is clear.

First, His name appears nowhere in the muster or pay rolls for 1777, and the "commencement of pay" date on his first pay roll entry is February 1, 1778.

Second, His pension affidavit claims that he "enlisted for the term of three years, on or about the 24th day of December in the year 1776, in the state of Virginia in the Company commanded by Captain Stead or Sted or Steed, in the Regiment commanded by Colonel Nevil or Neville." Colonel John Neville (no known relation to me) commanded the regiment after it was folded into the 4th Virginia in the fall of 1778. Had Eagle enlisted in the regiment in December of 1776 and joined it in January of 1777 he would certainly have mentioned Colonel Abraham Bowman, who became a "supernumerary" officer and was released from service when the regiments merged. Eagle served under Bowman only for a short while and, consequently, did not mention him. Eagle got the names right (Neville and Steed), but the year wrong.

Third, the term of his enlistment is consistently recorded as for 3 years or the length of the war (which ever was shorter). Soldiers who enlisted in 1777 or later enlisted under these terms. Virginia soldiers who enlisted in 1776 signed up for two years. (Someone might argue that a date so late in the year might have been treated differently, but I'm not aware of any examples of this.)

The date of his enlistment is not recorded anywhere in the surviving official records. From the evidence, however, it seems certain that he in fact enlisted "on or about the 24th day of December" in the year of 1777--not 1776--and joined the regiment at Valley Forge about a month later. Eagle is not the only veteran who got the dates of his service wrong when applying for a pension decades later. It is an understandable error for an old man to make. The State of West Virginia might, however, want to invest in an updated marker.

So what happened to William Eagle? After nearly two years of service he was “discharged for inability” on September 1, 1779. Tradition has it that he had a broken arm. Whatever his injury was, it saved him capture following the surrender of the Virginia Line after the Siege of Charleston in May of 1780.

William Eagle’s grave is by Eagle Rocks, a steep peak near the headwaters of the Potomac in West Virginia’s remote Smoke Hole Canyon. Ross B. Johnston wrote in his book West Virginians in the Revolution that the veteran named his son George Washington Eagle, and he nearly lost his life one day climbing his namesake peak in an attempt to capture some baby eagles.
An undated photo of the grave.
A January, 2019 photo shows grave needing some care.
Eagle Rocks is seen across a small road from William Eagle's grave.
(Revised December 21, 2019)
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"Well Positioned" by Doug Hall (doughallgallery.com)

On March 5, 1833 an old man named John Duncan walked into the Franklin County, Illinois courthouse and applied for a Revolutionary War pension. His father, he said, had been killed by Indians in Washington County, Virginia, when he was nine or ten years old. He recorded his own 20-year story of virtually nonstop Indian fighting, including the famous Vincennes campaign led by General George Rogers Clark (younger brother of 8th Virginia Captain Jonathan Clark). In his own words he had lived "in a country in a constant state of alarm, and liable to be called on at any moment."
According the the affidavit, “He never was regularly mustered into or out of service," he said. "He never was discharged regularly. He received some little pay, but does not now recollect how much. He is unacquainted with the names of any Regular or Continental officers or companies, nor ever served with any.... He never was regularly enrolled in any company or corps, unless it might be Genl Clark’s or Col Hays’s. He belonged to none at home. He has no documentary evidence of his service; he knows of no living witness who can testify personally as to his service....”
The death of Duncan's father was noted at the time by Daniel Boone, who collected the ball-head war club that had been used to kill him. War clubs were left by Indians as macabre calling cards beside their victims. Boone gave the club to Maj. Arthur Campbell who wrote to William Preston on October 1, 1774, "Mr. Boone preparing to go in search of the enemy...thinks it is the Cherokees that is now annoying us." This was at the height of Lord Dunmore's War, a conflict fought by Virginia primarily against the Ohio-based Shawnee over control of Kentucky.

In 1905, David E. Johnston, a descendent of 1778 New River settlers, wrote, "The life of these people was a long and dangerous struggle.... A race of men unused to war and ever present dangers, would have been helpless before such foes as these wild beasts and the Indians. People coming from the old world, no matter how thrifty and adventurous, could not hold their own on the frontier.... Every man from childhood was accustomed to the use of the rifle, and even a boy at twelve years was regarded old enough to have a gun, and was soon taught how to use it. He at least could make a good fort soldier. The war was never ending, for even the times of so-called peace were broken by forays and murders. A man might grow from boyhood to middle age on the border, and yet never recall a single year in which some of his neighbors were not killed by the Indians."
Duncan’s career of Indian fighting, colorful as it was, did not qualify him for a Revolutionary War pension. Most of it happened after the war was over (he was about 18 at the time of the victory at Yorktown). 
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A ball head war club of the type used to kill Duncan's father.

The pension affidavit, however, is great reading for anyone interested in early frontier history. It was transcribed by C. Leon Harris and is one of thousands Harris and his partners at RevWarApps.com have transcribed and put online. These affidavits have long been largely ignored by historians, who have been suspicious of them as the late memories of old men eager for money. Used carefully, however, they are a great resource to my research—especially when they corroborate each other or fill in blanks in the record. Duncan’s affidavit can be read here. 

Though he lived for a time in an area that recruited men for the 8th Virginia, Duncan was never connected with the regiment.

​(Updated May 31, 2021 and August 28, 2021.)

More from The 8th Virginia Regiment

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Hidden in the woods down a long, steep and rocky dirt road near the intersection of Interstate 66 and U.S. Route 11 is a very old Virginia house that seems out of place. If you have an eye for regional architecture, you will notice that it looks much more like a Pennsylvania Dutch farmhouse than a Virginia plantation house. 

The house was built by George Bowman, a son-in-law of Jost Hite who led George and their extended family to the Shenandoah Valley from Pennsylvania in the 1730s. The house was long believed to have been built in the 1750s but may not be quite that old. The symmetrical features and chimney placements show concessions to dominant English architectural style of the time (Georgian).

This is the house Colonel Abraham Bowman grew up in. George was his father. It is a very important early example of Pennsylvania German architecture in the Shenandoah Valley. The Laurence Snapp House (note the central chimney), which is nearby at Toms Brook, is another. The house has been called “Harmony Hall” since before the Revolutionary War. It is sometimes, however, called “Fort Bowman” because according to tradition it was used as a fort during the French and Indian War. Depending on the house's actual age, that history may now be in question.
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A nearby Virginia historical marker mentions Abraham's brother, Joseph, but does not mention Abraham. There were in fact four brothers who lived here who served in the Revolutionary War in various capacities. They all had reputations as excellent horsemen, for which reason the siblings were known as the "four centaurs of Cedar Creek" after the nearby stream.

In 2009, Maral Kalbian and Margaret Peters gave a presentation on the house’s history. Parts 1 through 3 cover the chain of property ownership. If you are not interested in that, you may want to start watching with part 4--which is embedded below. The house is now on property that is part of Cedar Creek & Belle Grove National Historical Park.

​Two more of Abraham Bowman's homes survive. The log house he built after moving to Kentucky in 1779 survives and has been restored, and the much larger plantation house he built after prospering there is also still standing. That house, now known as Helm Place, was later the home of Abraham Lincoln's sister-in-Law (Mary Todd Lincoln's sister).
(Updated August 20, 2020)

More from The 8th Virginia Regiment

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Abraham Bowman whiskey, which is produced in Fredericksburg, Virginia, is named for the only field officer who commanded the 8th Virginia for its entire two-year existence. Originally distilled by his descendants, the whiskey is an excellent tribute.

Americans drank rum in colonial times. After the Revolution, however, they drank whiskey. Rum was made from Caribbean molasses, but whiskey was purely home-grown. “The Revolution meant the decline of rum and the ascendancy of whiskey in America,” writes Mary Miley Theobald. “When the British blockade of American ports cut off the molasses trade, most New England rum distillers converted to whiskey. Whiskey had a patriotic flavor. It was an all-American drink, made in America by Americans from American grain.”

Nowhere was whiskey more popular than on the Virginia frontier. Whiskey came to America with the “Scotch Irish” who settled the frontier of Virginia, the same areas that produced the 8th Virginia Regiment. After the war, many 8th Virginia men led their families and neighbors into the woods of Kentucky. Abraham Bowman was among the very first to go. They began making whiskey out of corn, aging it in charred oak barrels, and (eventually) calling it "Bourbon." 
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Abraham Bowman was commissioned in 1776 to be the 8th Virginia’s original lieutenant colonel. A year later he was promoted to colonel to replace Peter Muhlenberg, who became a general. The Bowmans were not Scotch-Irish; they were German. Abraham was a third-generation American, however, and by his time or soon after there wasn’t much difference. After a few more generations, the Bowmans were back in the Old Dominion, and opened a whiskey distillery the day after Prohibition ended. For many years it was the only legal whiskey distillery in Virginia. 
 
The historical label is “Virginia Gentleman,” a serviceable bottom-shelf whiskey that is aged for just a few year. A. Smith Bowman Distillery, which was sold by the family to the Sazerac Company in 2003, also has a line of award-winning top-shelf whiskeys named after members of the family’s Revolutionary War generation: Bowman Brothers, Isaac Bowman, and John J. Bowman. These are the labels for the company’s small batch, port barrel finished, and single barrel labels.
 
The Abraham Bowman label is reserved for experimental whiskeys that are released once or twice a year in small quantities. There have been cider finished, “double barrel,” wheat bourbon, vanilla bean infused, coffee finished, and port wine finished versions. The port finished bourbon won a “world’s best bourbon” award in 2016 and became a regular product under the Isaac Bowman label. Since then, a bottle of Abraham Bowman whiskey has become very hard to acquire. To get one, a person has to stand in line at the distillery on the day of release or win a lottery conducted by the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority. 
 
If you live in Virginia or are ever driving through the state on Interstate 95, can stop in and take a tour of the distillery. You can go home with a bottle of good whiskey, but don’t count on a bottle of Abraham Bowman. It’s a safe bet they’ll be sold out.

(Updated 1/11/20)
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The distillery isn't shy about the awards it has received. (Author)

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October 4, 1777 was a bad day for the 8th Virginia and the Continental Army.

​Colonel Bowman’s men had seen combat, most notably at Brandywine—but disease and cold had caused more casualties than enemy musket balls or bayonets. The Battle of Germantown was different. Confused by fog and under the command of an allegedly drunk major general, the 8th Virginia suffered more battlefield casualties in one day than the rest of its service combined.
Two men, Richard Evans and Henry Saltsman of Captain Croghan’s company, were killed. Eleven men were wounded and three  were never seen again. About forty men were captured, mostly in the companies commanded by captains Westfall, Slaughter, Croghan, and Higgins. 

​Early in the engagement, Maj. Gen. Adam Stephen sent the 9th Virginia forward to flank three companies of retreating British light infantry. Deciding they needed support, he ordered the 8th Virginia to follow. The regiment's new and untested lieutenant colonel, John Markham from Chesterfield County, balked at the order. William Darke, the regiment's much more seasoned but also newly-promoted major, led half or more of the regiment forward to help their 9th Virginia comrades. They captured 110 of the light infantry (according to one account), but found themselves alone and unsupported as fog, smoke, fences, and friendly fire kept the brigades behind them from advancing in order. Matthews and Darke were captured. A little less than a third of the 9th Virginia was killed and the rest were captured. About  forty 8th Virginia men were captured. We don't know how many of the regiment's other casualties came from his forward detachment or how many (if any) escaped back to the line.

A lieutenant, Jacob Parrett, said he was "disabled by a wound in his right leg, just above the ancle, and it was with the greatest difficulty he secured himself during the retreat." Wounds in that era were not easy to recover from. In 1818, veteran Jonathan Grant reported that he “was wounded in the leg” at Germantown, “in consequence of which wound I am now rendered incapable of labouring for my support” and living “in reduced circumstances.”
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The men who were captured may have suffered the worst fate. They were carted off to the "new gaol," the Walnut Street Jail, in Philadelphia, where they were left hungry and cold going into winter. Officers were moved after a few days to the second floor of the State House (Independence Hall). Several men died in captivity and others never fully recovered from the experience. When he British gave up Philadelphia in 1778, they took their prisoners with them. There was an exchange of enlisted men in August of 1778, and some men went home (their enlistments had expired). Major Darke was exchanged in the fall of 1780 and made it home in time to participate in the Yorktown campaign.
After the Battle of Germantown, the 8th Virginia's new lieutenant colonel, John Markham, was charged with "Having left the regiment in time of action ... and also, on the retreat of the same day" and with "Delay when ordered to support the advanced guard." A court martial unanimously found him guilty and he was cashiered. General Stephen was also tried, found guilty of drunkenness and poor leadership, and kicked out of the army.

[Post Updated 10/5/19 and 1/4/23.]
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Artist Howard Pyle's rendering of the attack on Chew House during the Battle of Germantown. The 8th Virginia did not participate in this part of the battle.

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See “The Grand Division Standard” (June 20, 2022) for a corrected and updated version of this post.

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Here are images of all three known Virginia regimental standards, shown together apparently for the first time. All three flags are in anonymous private collections but have been exhibited publicly. The flag in the middle belonged to the 8th Virginia. One of the other flags reportedly belonged to the 3rd Virginia. The faded rectangle in the center of the 8th Virginia flag is a consequence of light damage resulting from the way in which it was displayed for many years--it was originally one consistent (salmon) color. The flags follow an apparently standard design, but in varying colors. The color was the most important distinguishing characteristic of the flags, which were used to help troops stay organized in the smoke and confusion of battle.

The scrolls on the blue and yellow flags contain only the word "regiment." This suggests that they were made at the same time, with the intention that regiment numbers would be added when the colors had been assigned to the respective units. (The word "regiment" is not centered in the scrolls; space was retained to the left of the word on both flags.) The writing in the 8th Virginia's scroll is illegible because of light damage. The writing was retouched on the reverse side of the flag to say "VIII Virg Regt." An 1847 account in the Richmond Whig says the scroll contained the words "VIII Virga Regt." This sets it apart from the other two flags. This can be explained by the history of Virginia's Continental regiments.

​The 1st and 2nd regiments were authorized by the Virginia convention in 1775 for one-year enlistments. Seven more regiments were authorized in December of 1775 to be formed in 1776 for two-year enlistments, with the expectation that the 1st and 2nd would also continue with new or reenlisted men. Virginia expected all of these regiments to be taken into the Continental Army. Congress, however, initially only authorized seven Virginia Continental regiments. Despite being the first regiment to leave the Commonwealth in Continental service, the 8th drew the short straw and was not recognized immediately as anything other than a provincial (after July 4, "state") regiment. (The same was true of the small 9th regiment, which was created only for Eastern Shore defense.) At the urging of General Charles Lee, Congress later increased the number of authorized Virginia Continental regiments. One consequence of this complicated history may be that the 8th Virginia's regimental standard was not made at the same time as the other banners.
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Jonathan Clark was one of the 8th Virginia’s ten company captains. He was the older brother of the explorer William Clark, famous for the Lewis and Clark expedition. He was also the older brother of George Rogers Clark, the victor of the now-obscure Battle of Vincennes, which won the old “northwest territory” from the British in the Revolution. Did you ever wonder how all the territory east of the Mississippi became American territory after the war, not just the 13 colonies? The answer is George Rogers Clark.

Jonathan Clark was an important figure in his own right, and left the only comprehensive diary of the 8th Virginia’s experiences in the war. It is frustratingly concise, but also crucially important in piecing the regiment's history together. Jim Holmberg, a Kentucky historian and archivist, wrote a blog post about the eldest Clark brother four years ago on the bicentennial of his death. You can read it here.
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More from The 8th Virginia Regiment

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On February 7, 1776, John Stump was one of the earliest recruits to join the 8th Virginia. He was recruited by Captain Abel Westfall or one of his lieutenants to join their new company of Virginia provincial soldiers. The company was one of ten that would make up the 8th Virginia Regiment.  John was probably the son of Michael Stump, a German who had changed his name from Hans Stumpff. 

John marched with the regiment to South Carolina in the summer of 1776 and was present for the Battle of Sullivan's Island. The joy of that victory was followed by a summer and fall of intense suffering. The soldiers of the 8th fell victims to malaria--a mosquito-born illness these men from the mountains were ill-prepared for. After a planned invasion of British Florida was called off, they sat sick in camp at Sunbury, Georgia--a few of them dying nearly every day.

When winter came and the malarial season ended, they hobbled back to Virginia. In the spring, those who were healthy enough marched off to join Washington's "Grand Camp" in New Jersey. They walked north, crossing the Potomac at Harper's Ferry  through Maryland into Pennsylvania before heading east through York, Lancaster, and Philadelphia. John Stump, however, couldn't make it much past Harper's Ferry. Muster rolls for the rest of the year report that he was "left sick in Maryland." After this, there is no further (discovered) record of him being alive.

It could have been malaria, smallpox, or another disease--but John Stump probably died somewhere near Frederick, Maryland. This was the fate of many 8th Virginia soldiers. Disease was the primary killer of the war, and no regiment was hit harder by it than the 8th Virginia.

The frontier cabin built by Michael Stump will be open for tours late this month. Records have not been found to prove it, but this is probably the cabin John Stump grew up in. Presumably, it was there that he shook his father's hand and kissed his mother's cheek before marching of to war, never to return. Current owners John and Beverly Buhl will open their doors during Hardy County Heritage Weekend, September 26 and 27. View their website for more information.
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See “Grand Division Flag” (June 20, 2022) for an updated version of this post.

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“The first time I heard of the 8th Virginia Standard was during an internet search on the 8th,” writes Rob Andrews, an SAR member and Revolutionary War reenactor with the 1st Virginia Regiment. What he found was an 1847 reference in the Richmond Whig.  The newspaper quoted Peter Muhlenberg’s great nephew saying, “The regimental color of this corps (8th Virginia Regiment of the Line) is still in the [my] possession.  It is made of plain salmon-colored silk, with a broad fringe of the same, having a simple white scroll in the centre, upon which are inscribed the words, ‘VIII Virga. Reg’t.’ The spear-head is brass, considerably ornamented.  The banner bears the traces of warm service, and is probably the only revolutionary flag in existence.” 

After this, there was no discoverable mention of the flag anywhere. “I emailed the folks at Valley Forge and the Trappe Foundation in Trappe PA, where the Muhlenberg family lived.  Emails bounced around and finally one person said he thought he knew who had it. I didn't hear anything for awhile and then one day an email from Bernard Goetz popped into my box with two pictures of the flag.  It was in a frame and had a card at the bottom stating its provenance.  I was appalled at the pictures and immediately advised Mr Goetz to remove the flag from the frame.” The flag had not been professionally conserved, had faded where it faced the glass, and was displayed with a card that claimed a service history that followed General Muhlenberg’s career—not that of the 8th Virginia (which he led for a year).

“That was all I heard of it for several years,” says Rob.

Sometime later, “Mr. Goetz passed away and [in 2012] his descendants placed all his historical artifacts up for auction at Freeman’s Auction in Philadelphia. Prior to the auction, Freeman’s brought it to Shenandoah County to be  displayed.  I was lucky that I found out about it just a couple of days prior to the event.  I contacted my friend Erik [Dorman] who also was interested in writing about the 8th and we decided to show up in our uniforms.  We caused quite a stir when we walked around the corner of the Courthouse into the square.  We were immediately enlisted to "guard" the flag and unveil it during the event.”

Rob also shares one important explanation about the flag’s appearance. “As someone in the past painted the flag so that 8th Virginia was visible” the opposite side of the flag is displayed “to show its original condition.  And its years in the frame have led to its faded rectangle appearance.” 

As mentioned a few posts ago, the flag was purchased anonymously for $422,500 and is once again owned by an anonymous collector. 

Thanks to Rob Andrews for the information in this post.

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The 8th Virginia regimental standard as displayed by Bernard Goetz.

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Gabriel Neville

is researching the history of the Revolutionary War's 8th Virginia Regiment. Its ten companies formed near the frontier, from the Cumberland Gap to Pittsburgh.

© 2015-2025 Gabriel Neville