8th Kentucky Infantry The 8th Kentucky Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . Service . The 8th Kentucky Infantry Regiment was organized in September 1861 , at Camp Boone in Montgomery County , Tennessee , since Kentucky had officially declared its neutrality in the war . Henry Cornelius Burnett , a former member of the United States House of Representatives , helped organize the regiment and was commissioned its colonel , but he never took active command . The regiment was captured at the fall of Fort Donelson in February 1862 . Of 312 men engaged in the battle , 99 were killed or wounded . Colonel Burnett had joined the regiment prior to the battle — again not commanding — but escaped capture by leaving on a river boat with Brigadier General John B . Floyd ' s command . Burnett then resigned from the army to serve full - time as a Confederate senator for Kentucky . After being exchanged in September 1862 , the regiment was attached first to Brig . Gen . Lloyd Tilghman ' s Brigade , then to Brig . Gen . Abraham Buford ' s Brigade in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana . The regiment fought under Generals Earl Van Dorn and John C . Pemberton during the Vicksburg Campaign . Prior to the surrender of Vicksburg on July 4 , 1863 , Colonel Hylan Benton Lyon and 250 men of the 8th Kentucky managed to escape . Lyon led them to Jackson , Mississippi , where they joined the Confederate forces stationed there . In spring 1864 , the 8th Kentucky was converted to mounted infantry and fought the remainder of the war as dragoons . It served under Gen . Nathan Bedford Forrest for much of that time . The 8th Kentucky Regiment surrendered on May 4 , 1865 at Columbus , Mississippi , nearly a month after Robert E . Lee ' s surrender at Appomattox Court House in Virginia . It was paroled and the men allowed to make their way home on their own . Battles and skirmishes of the 8th Kentucky Infantry Regiment . - Fought on 13 February 1862 at Fort Donelson , TN < br > - Fought on 15 February 1862 at Fort Donelson , TN < br > - Fought on 16 February 1862 at Fort Donelson , TN < br > - Fought on 6 April 1862 at Shiloh , TN ( those who escaped capture at Fort Donelson ) < br > - Fought on 1 December 1862 < br > - Fought on 2 December 1862 at Tallahatchie River < br > - Fought on 4 December 1862 < br > - Fought on 5 December 1862 at Coffeeville , MS < br > - Fought on 16 May 1863 at Baker ' s Creek , MS < br > - Fought on 4 July 1863 at Vicksburg , MS < br > - Fought on 10 July 1863 at Jackson , MS < br > - Fought on 11 July 1863 at Jackson , MS < br > - Fought on 15 July 1863 at Harrisburg , MS < br > - Fought on 17 July 1863 at Jackson , MS < br > - Fought on 22 December 1863 < br > - Fought on 15 February 1864 at Canton , MS < br > - Fought on 25 March 1864 at Paducah , KY < br > - Fought on 1 April 1864 < br > - Fought on 18 April 1864 at Paducah , KY < br > - Fought on 20 April 1864 in Kentucky < br > - Fought on 10 June 1864 at Tishomingo Creek , MS < br > - Fought on 11 June 1864 at Tishomingo Creek , MS < br > - Fought on 20 June 1864 at Kenesaw Mountain , GA < br > - Fought on 14 July 1864 at Harrisburg , MS