Charles - in perusing the CMSR of William J James, Co. K, 8th Conf. Cav., I find a hand-written descriptive list which includes a statement that he was "born in Lafayette Co, Alabama". Since there is no Lafayette County in Alabama, but the city of LaFayette is in Chambers County, and since Co. K was raised in Chambers County (immediately adjacent to West Point, GA) I believe that this man was born in Chambers County, Alabama*, and thus is not your man. Also, the Alabama Department of Archives and History shows in their Alabama Civil War Service Database, that a William Joseph James answered the 1907 Alabama census of Confederate veterans, indicating that he was in Co. K, 8th Conf. Cav. At that time he lived in Lee County, immediately south of Chambers County.

*I suppose there is a remote possibility that he was born in Fayette County, but I don't think so.