The 8th Connecticut Infantry Regiment was organized at Camp Buckingham, Hartford, in September, 1861, It was first commanded by Colonel Edward Harland of Norwich. The regiment drew most of its enlisted men from northern Hartford and Litchfield counties and was composed mostly of merchants and farmers from the Housatonic River and Connecticut River Valleys south to near New Milford and north to the Massachusetts state line and west to present day Hartford. The regiment had many free black men as well. The regiment left Hartford October 17, 1861, for a camp of instruction at Jamaica, Long Island, and there received its colors. It proceeded to Annapolis, where it spent the fall. Early in January, 1862, the Eighth sailed with the to North Carolina as part of the IX Corps. It was held in reserve during the Battle of Roanoke Island.