J. D. Edwards of New Orleans, who went to Pensacola to take images of Confederate soldiers along the beach. Except for these extraordinary images, which he advertised for sale at $1.00 each, we really don't know much about him. We also don't know the names of officers and men in any of the Edwards images. Most of these have been published in books like "The Blue and Gray in Black and White: A History of Civil War Photography".

Here's an Edwards image of a Pensacola water battery manned by an Alabama company, possibly the "Perote Guards" of Pike County, Ala.:

http://www.archives.gov/research/civil-war/photos/images/civ...

Since the 8th Alabama Regiment went to Yorktown VA, members will not be included in the Edwards images. ADAH has an image of W. A. Pate, who belonged to the "Alex Stephens Guards", Co. "C", 8th Alabama Regiment. Here's an image of the 8th Alabama flag captured during the Battle of Frayser's Farm VA, June 30, 1862 --

http://www.archives.state.al.us/referenc/flags/026.html

According to his service file, Shaw missed this battle. He also missed two other major battles -- Salem Church and Gettysburg -- but participated in the Battle of the Crater and many others.

The 8th Alabama Regiment was the first organization from this state to enroll in Confederate service for three years or the war.