The 8th Virginia Regiment
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About the Project.

Gabe Neville is researching the history of the legendary 8th Virginia Regiment of the Revolutionary War. Led by Col. Peter Muhlenberg and later by Col. Abraham Bowman, the regiment has been the subject of poetry, legend, and controversies that continue into the 21st century. The full story has never been told. Through years of careful research at libraries, battlefields, and archives, Gabe is piecing the narrative together like a big jigsaw puzzle.

This is the story of the Revolution through the eyes of men (and a few women) from the Shenandoah Valley, southwest Virginia, nearby West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania. It is the story of the first settlers of Kentucky and Ohio. They were at Trenton, Brandywine, and Valley Forge--but their war was very different from the one most of us learned about in school. Tell people about this project. You can follow the project on social media and by subscribing to email updates. We hope you'll also share local or family histories with us. This project is like detective work--even small facts can matter quite a bit.

Thanks for reading!

All content on this website © 2015-2023
Gabriel Neville. 
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A pair of pistols carried by Peter Muhlenberg in the Revolution. (Museum of the American Revolution)

Keep Learning.

The resources below will help you learn more about the 8th Virginia, the frontier, and the Revolutionary War in general.

Facebook is the best way to get frequent updates on this project. For less frequent updates announcing new content only subscribe to the newsletter on the Contact page.
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In Print

Recommended books that will help readers understand the world the regiment lived in. Books that deal directly with soldiers in the regiment are marked with an asterisk.

Calloway, Colin G. The Shawnees and the War for America. New York: Penguin, 2007. 

*Cecere, Michael. A Brave, Active and Intrepid Soldier: Lieutenant Colonel Richard Campbell of the Virginia Continental Line. (Berwyn Heights, MD: Heritage Books, 2020)

*Cecere, Michael. Peter Muhlenberg: A Virginia Officer of the Continental Line. Yardley, Pa: Westholme Publishing, 2020.

David, James Corbett. Dunmore’s New World.  Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2013.

Downes, Randolph C. Council Fires on the Upper Ohio. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1968.

Hart, Freeman H. The Valley of Virginia in the American Revolution, 1763-1789. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1942.

Hassler, Edgar W. Old Westmoreland: A History of Western Pennsylvania During the Revolution. Cleveland: Arthur H. Clark, 1900.

Hendricks, Christopher E. The Backcountry Towns of Colonial Virginia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 2006.

Kercheval, Samuel. A History of the Valley of Virginia. Winchester: Samuel H. Davis, 1833.

Maloy, Mark. Victory or Death: The Battles of Trenton and Princeton, December 25, 1776-January 3, 1777. El Dorado Hills, Ca: Savas Beatie, 2018.

McNeill, John Robert. Mosquito Empires: Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean, 1620-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

*Muhlenberg, Henry Augustus. The Life of Major General Peter Muhlenberg. Philadelphia: Cary and Hart, 1849.

Nelson, John K. A Blessed Company: Parishes, Parsons, and Parishioners in Anglican Virginia, 1690-1776. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

*Potts, Gwynne Tuell. George Rogers Clark and William Croghan: A Story of the Revolution, Settlement, and Early Life at Locust Grove. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2020.

Rouse, Parke, Jr, The Great Wagon Road: From Philadelphia to the South. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1973.

E.M. Sanchez-Saavedra. Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the Revolution, 1774-1787. Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1978.

Selby, John E. The Revolution in Virginia: 1775-1783. Williamsburg: Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1988.

Spero, Patrick. Frontier Rebels: The Fight for Independence in the American West. New York: W.W. Norton, 2018.

Ward, Harry M. Charles Scott and the “Spirit of ’76.” Charlottesville: [[University of Virginia Press,]] 1988.

Ward, Harry M. Major General Adam Stephen and the Cause of American Liberty. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1989.

*Wayland, John W. The Bowmans: A Pioneering Family in Virginia, Kentucky, and the Northwest Territory. Staunton, Va.: McClure, 1943.

Williams, Glenn F. Dunmore's War: The Last Conflict of America's Colonial Era. Yardley, Pa: Westholme Publishing, 2017.

Wright, Jr., Robert K. The Continental Army. Center of Military History, United States Army.  Washington: Government Printing Office, 1983.
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Online

"Birth of American Frontier Culture" (Mitchell Farish)
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"'The B Team' of 1777: Maxwell's Light Infantry" (Gabe Neville)

"Discharge of the Battalion" (Kyle Willyard)

"The Fighting Parson's Farewell Sermon" (Michael Cecere)

"The Fincastle Resolutions" (Jim Glanville)

"Flags of the American Revolution" (Scott Stephenson)

"A Forty Year Bond: William Darke and George Washington in Politics, Business, and War" (Gabe Neville)

Harmony Hall/Fort Bowman Presentation (Maral Kalbian and Margaret Peters)

"He's the Lee in Ft. Lee" (Gabe Neville)

"Jonathan Clark--A Witness to History" (Jim Holmberg)
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"The Last Vestige of the Clove Road" (Gabe Neville) 

"The Mighty Oaks of the Forest" (Gabe Neville)

"The Minute Battalion of Culpeper County, Virginia, 1775-1776" (Gene Norris Culpepper)

"Mounting the Soldier Second" (Gabe Neville)

"Peter Muhlenberg: The Pastor Turned Soldier" (Joshua Horn)

"Religious Liberty in Virginia: How 'Dissenters' Parlayed Oppression into Freedom" (Alex Colvin)

Remarks on Col. Peter Muhlenberg (Karen Cooper)

"The Reverend Peter Muhlenberg: A Symbiotic Adventure in Virginia, 1772-1783" (George M. Smith)

"A Revolutionary War Dream Team" (Gabe Neville)

"[Captain] Robert Higgins" (Kentucky SAR)

"Shenandoah County and the American Revolution" (Karen Cooper)

"Shenandoah Martyr: Richard Campbell at War" (Gabe Neville)

"The Southern Frontier in the American Revolution" (Walter Edgar)

"Stolen Valor in Georgia" (Gabe Neville)

"The Tragedy of Henry Laurens" (Gabe Neville)​

"Virginia Looking Westward: From Lord Dunmore's War Through the Revolution" (Thomas Thorliefur Sobol)

"Virginia's Independent Frontier Companies, Part One" (Gabe Neville)

"Virginia's Independent Frontier Companies, Part Two" (Gabe Neville)

"[Major] William Darke" (Dictionary of Virginia Biography)
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(Wikipedia.com entries pertaining to the 8th Virginia are generally poorly sourced and contain a number of factual errors.)
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The signatures of the regiment's original field officers: Col. Peter Muhlenberg, Lt. Col. Abraham Bowman, and Maj. Peter Helphenstine.
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Links

1st Virginia Regiment (reenactors)
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2nd Virginia Regiment (reenactors)​

3rd Virginia Regiment (reenactors)

10th Virginia Regiment (reenactors)

116th Regiment Foundation & Museum (successor unit to Captain David Stephenson's company)

American Revolution Museum at Yorktown

Animated Battlefield Maps

Augusta County Historical Society

Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates

Common-Place

Crab Orchard Museum & Pioneer Park

DAR - Alleghany Chapter

DAR - Beverley Manor Chapter

DAR - Floyd Courthouse Chapter

DAR - Fort Loudoun Chapter

DAR - Fort Maiden Spring Chapter

DAR-Narrow Passage Chapter

DAR - New River Pioneer Chapter

DAR - Shenandoah River Chapter

Emerging Revolutionary War Era

Flintlock & Tomahawk

Fort Pitt Museum

French & Indian War Foundation

Frontier Culture Museum

Germanna Foundation 

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Harrisonburg-Rockingham County Historical Society

History Museum of Western Virginia

Jefferson County Historical Society

​Jefferson County Museum

Journal of the American Revolution

Locust Grove

Museum of the American Revolution

New River Notes

Of Sorts for Provincials

Pencader Heritage Area Association (Battle of Cooch's Bridge)

RevWarRamblings (Michael C. Harris)

Revolutionary War Pension Statement Transcriptions

SAR - Col. James Wood II Chapter

SAR - Culpeper Minutemen Chapter
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SAR - Fincastle Resolutions Chapter

SAR - Fort Henry Chapter

SAR - General Adam Stephen Chapter

SAR - Martin's Station Chapter

​SAR - Virginia

Scavengeology

Shenandoah County Historical Society

Sons of the Revolution - Pennsylvania

Sons of the Revolution - Virginia

Sons of the Revolution - West Virginia

Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution

Strasburg Museum

Traditional Black Powder Hunting

Virginians in the Revolutionary War Era

Wilderness Road

Winchester-Frederick County Historical Society
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