Organized in Houston in 1861 by Kentucky-born Texas sugar planter Benjamin Franklin Terry, the 8th Texas Cavalry became widely known during the Civil War as Terry’s Texas Rangers, though Terry was among the first casualties in the regiment’s first battle at Rowletts Station near Woodsonville, Kentucky, on December 17, 1861. The regiment returned to these fields the next year to take part in the Battle and Siege of Munfordville and the smaller battle at Woodsonville three days later. Letters, diaries, and the regiment’s war song attest to the impact these early Kentucky battles had on the renowned Rangers. Contemporary accounts praised their daring, bravery, and apparent insensitivity to danger and death, while describing their fierce appearance and conduct in battle. Recollections from the fighting recalled Terry’s charge at the first fire, the Rangers’ clash again at Woodsonville during Bragg’s retreat toward Louisville, and the capture of General Willich, who declared he would rather be a private in that regiment than a brigadier general in the Federal army.