William F. Fox, Lt. Col. U. S. V., Regimental Losses in the American Civil War, 1861-1865: A Treatise on the extent and nature of the mortuary losses in the Union regiments, with full and exhaustive statistics compiled from the official records on file in the state military bureaus and at Washington

Eighth U. S. Colored Infantry.

Total of killed and wounded, 364; captured and missing, 72; died in Confederate prisons (previously included), 6.

Present, also, at Hatcher's Run; Fall of Petersburg; Pursuit of Lee; Appomattox.

notes.--Organized at Philadelphia, recruiting having commenced in September, 1863. The field officers had seen service in other regiments, Colonel Fribley having served as a Captain in the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania. The Eighth left Philadelphia, January 16, 1864, proceeding to New York, where it embarked for Hilton Head, S. C. After a short stay of two weeks, it sailed with Seymour's Division for Florida, where it was engaged, soon after, at the battle of Olustee; it had been assigned, shortly before this action, to Hawley's Brigade. The fighting at Olustee resulted in a serious defeat to Seymour's forces, and the Eighth, after facing the enemy's musketry for over half an hour, retired slowly and in good order, its casualties amounting to 50 killed, 187 wounded, and 73 missing; the latter were all killed or wounded men. Colonel Fribley was killed in this battle.

The regiment remained in Florida until August, when it accompanied General William Birney's Brigade to Virginia, where it joined the Army of the James. At Chaffin's Farm the regiment, under Major Wagner, distinguished itself by its gallantry and efficiency, losing there, 8 killed, and 60 wounded, out of about 200 in action. In the affair on the Darbytown Road — then in Doubleday's (2d) Brigade, Birney's (3d) Division, Tenth Corps--it took only 150 men into the fight, losing 4 killed, 31 wounded, and 5 missing. Upon the organization of the Twenty-fifth Corps in December, 1864, a corps composed wholly of colored troops, the regiment was placed in the Second Brigade, Second Division (General William Birney's). Of the 166 colored regiments in the Union Armies the Eighth U. S. stands third in point of loss in action. It saw considerable active service in the field during the campaign of 1864-65, and was known as an efficient and reliable regiment. After Lee's surrender, the Eighth was ordered to Texas, where it encamped on the Rio Grande, at Ringgold Barracks, until October, 1865, when it returned to Philadelphia for muster-out.