8th Missouri Volunteer Infantry The 8th Missouri Volunteer Infantry ( aka the " American Zouaves " ) was an infantry regiment in the Union army during the American Civil War . Among its early leaders were Morgan Lewis Smith and Giles Alexander Smith , both of whom later became generals . The 8th Missouri Volunteer Infantry ( US ) was formed in St . Louis , Missouri , in the early summer of 1861 . The regiment was a special project supported by General Nathaniel Lyon . Most of the volunteers in Missouri ' s early regiments were German immigrants , and Lyon supported the creation of a regiment of " native - born Americans " to demonstrate that the Union cause in Missouri had support beyond the German - American community . Ironically , the Eighth Missouri also ended up with a high percentage of immigrants . Many of its members were Irish Americans who had worked on the Mississippi River docks prior to the war , giving the regiment a distinct Celtic personality ( an ironic result considering Lyon ' s goal of an ethnically " American " regiment ) . In addition to its St Louis recruits , several companies were actually raised in other states . The Illinois and Minnesota volunteers joined the Eighth Missouri because their home state ' s quota for enlistments was full . The Eighth Missouri wore a distinctive uniform pattered after those of the French - North African Zouave units . While most of the Zouave uniform elements were abandoned as the war progressed , the 8th Missouri apparently continued to wear their short , brightly decorated Zouave jackets throughout the war . The regiment ' s first commander was Col . Morgan Lewis Smith , a New Yorker who had moved west to Missouri after serving as an enlisted man in the Regular Army . Under his firm hand , the 8th Missouri would become one of the finest units to serve in the Army of the Tennessee . M . L . Smith ' s brother , Giles Alexander Smith , also served in the regiment . The 8th Missouri saw extensive service during the first three years of the war in the Trans - Mississippi Theater and Western Theater , and built for itself an enviable reputation on the battlefield . The regiment first fought in Missouri in the summer of 1861 against pro - Southern guerrilla s who were attacking U . S . Army supply trains — for example , in Wentzville , Missouri . That autumn , the 8th Missouri participated in the Federal occupation of Paducah , Kentucky . In February 1862 , the regiment fought its first major battle , the Battle of Fort Donelson , near Dover , Tennessee . Later that spring , it was heavily engaged in the second day ' s fighting at the Battle of Shiloh . After a two - month - long campaign , it was the first regiment to enter the strategic rail center of Corinth , Mississippi , following the Confederate evacuation in May 1862 , and in late December , it took part in the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou . In January 1863 , it stormed the breastworks of Fort Hindman to capture Arkansas Post . The 8th Missouri saw considerable service in the Battle of Vicksburg , where eleven men of the regiment won the Medal of Honor in one day during the May 22 , 1863 , assault on Stockade Redan . The regiment marched on to participate in the Battle of Jackson , the Battle of Chattanooga , and the opening phases of the Atlanta Campaign . On June 25 , 1864 , the three - year enlistments of most of the regiment ' s members expired and they returned to their homes . Those who remained on active duty were consolidated into a battalion of two companies , and as such participated in the rest of the Atlanta Campaign and Sherman ' s March to the Sea . In February 1865 , the remaining veterans of the 8th Missouri were attached as an extra company to the 6th Missouri Infantry . In this capacity , they took part in the Carolinas Campaign and the Grand Review of the Armies in Washington , D . C . , before being mustered out of service in June 1865 .