Please listen to Bryan Howerton. He is telling you the truth.
The only thing confusing about the 8th Arkansas is that something like 78 men lived to come back, the rest were killed in battle.
Plus, I know for a fact there are two books on the 8th in the works by two different highly educated men with different slants.
These books do not just appear over night and take extensive research prior to going to print.
The 8th Arkansas CSA was highly regarded for its tough fighting ability and that is the reason there is a re-enactors group in
Michigan called the the 8th Arkansas.
My ancestor was Sgt. J. D. Pearce, one of the 78 who came back. Pearce was shot at Shiloh and the bullet passed "through and through"
meaning it exited. His brother was sent in the wagon to pick him up and take him home to his father's house in Mifflin, Tennessee.
After recovering from his wound, J. D. Pearce sit out walking to catch up with his men on the 4th of July and then fought all over the South with what was left of the 8th.
Since J.D. Pearce was nursed back to health by a beautiful young lady, when the war ended in 1865 he went home to Mifflin, Tenn. and married her. Only after the birth of their first child, did J.D. and his wife make it back to Arkansas where he was a successful gunsmith in what became Lonoke County.
It has taken me years to learn all of these details, lots of research, etc. It does not just come over night, so be patient, investigate, and listen
to the folks who know.