The Fourth Mississippi Cavalry was organized in late 1862 by the consolidation of two previously formed Mississippi Cavalry Battalions. These units were Hughes' Mississippi Cavalry Battalion and Stockdale's Mississippi Cavalry Battalion. Both of these units would reappear individually later in the War, but in both cases they were second organizations formed by the same commanding officers and given their previous designations.
As with almost all other Civil War units, the Fourth Mississippi Cavalry was often known and written about using alternate designations derived from the name of its commanding officer. Names of this type used by or to describe the Fourth Mississippi Cavalry are listed below:
The Fourth Mississippi Cavalry spent its entire career in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana (and, as it was subsequently renamed, the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana). The list below shows the specific higher command assignments of the regiment.
More detailed information about the formation and the officers of each company is given below:
STAFF Colonel - C. C. Wilbourn Lieutenant Colonels - Cornelius McLaurin - Thomas R. Stockdale Majors - Thomas R. Stockdale - James M. Norman Adjutant - B. H. Morehead Quartermaster - Major W. W. Vaught COMPANY A - "The Coast Guards" Organized January 19, 1862, at Pass Christian, Harrison County, Mississippi; also recruited from Crystal Springs, Copiah County and other places. Captain - D. McCollum - read about his diary First Lieutenant - S. R. Allen Second Lieutenant - R. A. Allen First Sergeant - B. Catchings Total roll, 59 COMPANY B - "Copiah Horse Guards" "Copiah Horse Guards", mustered in at Hazelhurst, Copiah County on March 1, 1861. Also known as "Company A, Stockdale's Battalion" and "Norman's Company of Partisan Rangers", it was on duty on the Gulf coast in February, 1862; reported as seventy-five present and absent in the First District in July, 1862; twenty-five strong at Covington, Louisiana in October, 1862; attached to the command of Col. Gantt on outpost duty near Clinton, Louisiana in January, 1863. Captains - Thomas Arlander Graves - James M. Norman First Lieutenant - James M. Norman Second Lieutenant - William H. Catchings Third Lieutenants - Aaron P. Cunningham - John B. Middleton - Elbert N. Guynes Captain: Thomas Arlander Graves, he was part of a wagon train that took supplies to Gen. Price in Missouri and while there he was attached to the 3rd Missouri Cavalry. He fought at Pea Ridge and also at Corinth where he was killed in battle. Contributed by Tim Graves. Private: George Ellis Fleming, born 1842, died 1917. Enlisted 1 March 1861 at Hazelhurst; later served in Company C, Arty "Seven Stars" Roberts' Company, 24th Batt., Miss. Cavalry which was reorganized as "Moorman's Company". Contributed by Debbie Van Scoy. Private: Elisha Alexander Fleming, born 1834, died after 1880. Enlisted 1 March 1861 at Hazelhurst. Contributed by Debbie Van Scoy. Private: Thomas Reuben Fleming, born 1839, died 1893. Enlisted 1 March 1861 at Hazelhurst. On 6 March 1862 he joined Capt. Peyton's Company, 3rd Miss. Infantry. On 17 July 1863, he was captured near Jackson, Miss., and transported to Camp Morton, Indiana as a P.O.W. He was held there until 11 March 1865 when he was transferred to a camp in Maryland and then paroled. He entered General Hospital #9 in Richmond. N.F.I. Contributed by Debbie Van Scoy. Private: Robert Samuel Johnson Bullock, born 11 May 1846, Covington Co., MS, enlisted 19 Jan. 1862 at Pass Christian. Service record indicates he furnished his own horse, valued at $200.00. Son of Quinney Bullock and Lydia Graves. R. S. J. Bullock married Harriet Ross, 5 Jan. 1871 in Lawrence Co., Miss. Harriet was born 14 Feb. 1853 in Miss. and died 22 Oct. 1928, Winn Parish, Louisiana. R. S. J. Bullock and Harriet Ross Bullock are buried in Friendship Cemetery, Jonesboro, Bienville Parish, LA. They had 13 children. R. S. J. Bullock died 8 June 1924 in Louisiana. Contributed by George Purvis. Original roll, 54 View the final roster. COMPANY C - "Magruder Partisans" Known as "Magruder's Partisans", it was enlisted into service at Port Gibson, Claiborne County on June 14, 1862. Magruder, Martin, and Buck served in the Twelfth Virginia Infantry in Virginia for twelve months, and then returned to Mississippi; Magruder with authority to raise a cavalry company. He commanded the company in several fights until mortally wounded near Canton, Madison County, Miss. Lieutenants Humphrey and Parker served previously in Abbay's Artillery. First Sergeant T.G. Spindle was promoted to Surgeon of the Forty-first Tennessee in 1863. Captains - J. M. Magruder, d. March 18, 1864 - William M. Martin, killed at Hattiesburg, Miss. First Lieutenant - C. E. Buck Second Lieutenant - D. B. Humphrey Third Lieutenant - James P. Parker Sergeant-Major - D. G. Humphrey Ordnance Sergeant - William Hughes Orderly - D. S. Farrar Private: Martin Simeon Nevels, from Union Church, Miss. He enlisted at Port Gibson, 12 Dec. 1863; captured 4 May 1865 by troops commanded by Maj. Gen. E. R. S. Canby; paroled at Gainesville, AL 12 May 1865. Ancestor of Steve Camp. Total roll, 113; died of disease, 6; killed, 5; discharged, 4; transferred, 3; deserted, 22. COMPANY D Captain - George P. McLean Third Lieutenant - J. R. Harring Private: William Henry Womack. He enlisted on 28 Aug 1863; surrendered 4 May 1865 at Citronelle, Alabama; paroled 12 May 1865 at Gainesville, Alabama. His family had removed to Texas in the 1850s but he returned to his birthplace, Everett, Simpson Co., Mississippi to enlist in the C.S.A. Upon his parole he returned home to Trinity Co., Texas. He died 27 May 1926. A grand daughter was appalled to learn that he had eaten horsemeat while in the C.S.A.; to which he stated to her, "Honey, when you're starving you'll eat anything." Submitted by: John R. Akin COMPANY E Captain - S. D. Ramsey Private: David Hutson, born 1837 in Georgia, resided in Itawamba Co., MS. Migrated to Fulton Co., AR in 1870. He applied for a pension in 1901. He died 7 Mar. 1902; bur. Elizabeth Cemetery, Fulton Co., AR. Submitted by: Pam Ingle. Private: Samuel John Fleming, born 30 October 1828 in Copiah County; enlisted 18 July 1862; discharged at Port Hudson, Louisiana due to illness; died 15 August 1893 in Copiah County. His spouse, Verlinda Elizabeth Mattingly applied for a pension in 1916. Information contributed by Debbie VanScoy. Private: Aaron Hinsdale Buie. Read his memoirs. Contributed by Gail Onesi.
COMPANY F First Lieutenant - S. B. McCown Third Lieutenant - Thomas Robinson Private: Calvin Green Boone (My Great-Great-Grandfather) On 31 Aug 1863, when he was 40 years old, he enlisted as a Private in Company F, 4th Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry at Brandon. He furnished his own horse and equipment. On 31 August 1864, his name appears on the muster roll of Forrest Hospital in Lauderdale, Miss. It does not state whether he had been wounded or was ill. On 12 May 1865 his name appears on a roll call recorded in Gainesville, Alabama for prisoners of war. His unit had surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama on 4 May, and he was paroled on 12 May to return home to Mississippi. Submitted by Richard R. Dietz. Private: Edward Mayes served in Co. F of the 4th Mississippi Cavalry during the Vicksburg Campaign. After the war, he graduated from the University of Mississippi as a lawyer, and from 1887 to 1891 served as Chancellor of "Ole Miss". The first Chancellor to be a graduate of the university.
Submitted by Beth Maggio. COMPANY G Captain - A. C. McKissack First Lieutenant - Thomas H. Arnold. He was previously Captain of 13th Tennessee Infantry, but transferred to the 4th Mississippi Cavalry in 1862. Ancestor of Mark Arnold. COMPANY H Comprised of men from Jefferson County. Captain - J. J. Whitney First Lieutenant - W. S. Crawford Second Lieutenant - H. C. Snodgrass Third Lieutenant - W. M. Lewis First Sergeant - T. L. Darden Total roll, 117 COMPANY I - "Stockdale's Rangers"
Known as "Stockdale's Rangers" and comprised of men from Wilkinson, Amite, Pike, and
Franklin counties it was organized at Liberty, Amite County in the fall of 1862. Thomas R. Stockdale had previously served in Virginia for one year as a Major in the
Sixteenth Mississippi Infantry Regiment, under Brigadier Isaac R. Trimble. His new unit was formed into a
battalion with W. Norman's company, and Stockdale was elected Major and it was then called "Stockdale's Cavalry". Subsequently this reformed battalion was merged with
C. C. Wilbourn's battalion and the whole unit was named the Fourth Mississippi Cavalry. It then was a part of Logan's Cavalry Brigade which was comprised of the Fourth
Mississippi Cavalry, the Fourteenth Confederate Cavalry, the Eleventh Arkansas Cavalry, the Seventeenth Arkansas Cavalry, Robert's Artillery Battery, and Brown's Scouts.
Stockdale's Cavalry company was in all the skirmishes to the rear of Port Hudson; fought at Fayette against Elliot's Marine Brigade;
fought Sherman from Vicksburg to Meridian and back. Skirmished with McPherson's Corps from Big Black to Brownville and back; was engaged in the Battle of Harrisburg, Miss.
having six men killed on the field and a number wounded, among them Stockdale, himself severely. The company was in the raid with General Forest to Johnsonville, Tenn. which
destroyed over one million dollars worth of enemy supplies and captured and destroyed three Union gunboats. The company was again with Forest when he raided and destroyed
Selma, Alabama and Columbus, Georgia; and finally surrendered at Gainesville, Alabama on May 12, 1865.
Captains - Thomas R. Stockdale - Christian "Kit" Hoover First Lieutenants - Christian "Kit" Hoover - Daniel Williams Second Lieutenants - Daniel Williams - W. W. Vaught - Douglas N. Walker Third Lieutenants - Douglas N. Walker - Burrell C. Quin Sergeant: Wiley J. Martin, Born 27 Oct 1831. Enlisted 1 July 1862. Died 7 Feb 1886. Buried Foils Cemetery, Walthall County, MS. Ancestor of Letha K. Bauer Private: William Henry Pascoe. After the war he became a lawyer and lived in New Orleans, La. Ancestor of Robert W. Pascoe. Private: Enoch McLain. After the war he returned home to Liberty, Amite County, and became an honored citizen. Buried in Gloster Cemetery (Amite County). Ancestor of Ed Kennedy. View the entire roster of Stockdale's Cavalry. COMPANY K Captain - J. B. McEwen, KIA Hattiesburg MISSISSIPPI SCOUTS Organized on December 1, 1861. Captain - Cornelius McLaurin First Lieutenant - Robert S. Morris Second Lieutenant - A. Bolivar Alexander Third Lieutenant - James M. Smith
TERRALL'S DRAGOONS
This unit is mentioned in the reports of June 29, 1862 as in camp on the Amite River, in
Louisiana. They were attacked by a Union company under the command of Captain Magee and several men were captured and taken prisoner. Listed as "Terrell's Dragoons",
seventy-six men were present when assigned to General Van Dorn's department in July of 1862. On November 27, 1862, Captain Terrell,
(read his
biography) Lieut. John Pope, and Privates F. M. Rogers, W. Waddell,
J. T. Bland; and Volunteers L. Roorthe and F. R. Vorheis boarded the steamship "Lone Star" which was tied up in the Mississippi River just below Plaquemine, Iberville
Parish, Louisiana, captured it and burned it. In October of 1862, Terrell's company of mounted rangers, forty-eight strong, were at Covington, St. Tammany Parish, in
Louisiana. In January of 1863 they were on outpost duty at Port Hudson, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana. In April of 1863, along with Wilbourne's Battalion, they
were engaged in operations against Grierson's Raiders. A few of the men of this unit were part of an improvised force of thirty-five men and boys under the leadership
of Lieut. W. M. Wilson, which defeated a body of Union raiders at Rocky Creek, near Ellisville, Jones County, Mississippi on June 25, 1863. They captured thirty-seven
soldiers of the Fifth Illinois Cavalry.
The Fourth Mississippi Cavalry participated in more than fifty various
type engagements during its career.
Click here
to view a map showing the locations of the operations of the 4th Mississippi
Cavalry.
STOCKDALE'S BATTALION
Also known as "Company B, 4th Mississippi Cavalry" and "Norman's Company of Partisan Rangers".
HUGHES' BATTALION
Colonel Henry Hughes, formerly of the Twelfth Mississippi Infantry, organized a partisan corps in the spring and summer of 1862, which included infantry and cavalry. That part which continued permanently in service was known as Hughes' Battalion of Cavalry, Lieut. Col. C. C. Wilbourne commanding. The official reports note the presence of the battalion at Port Hudson, [East Baton Rouge Parish], Louisiana on October 22, 1862; and in January, 1863 with Gantt's command on outpost duty toward Clinton, [East Feliciana Parish], Louisiana. It April, 1863 the unit saw action against Grierson's raid. Wilbourne reached Osyka [southern Pike County, Mississippi], when Grierson was at Hazelhurst [Copiah County, Mississippi], and he was instructed to cut off the approach to Grand Gulf [Claiborne County, Mississippi], cooperating with Wirt Adams. Because of this combined Confederate force Grierson could not join with Grant and was compelled to make a forced ride to Baton Rouge. Grierson crossed Williams' bridge over the Amite, near Port Hudson, at midnight between April 30 and May 1, and moved upon and surprised the camp of Hughes' Battalion at Sandy Creek, capturing a number of prisoners and destroying the camp, according to Grierson's report. During the siege of Port Hudson, Hughes' Battalion was with the command of Col. John L. Logan, headquartered at Clinton, Louisiana, operating in the Federal rear.
McLAURIN'S BATTALION
Also known as the "Mississippi Scouts", of Rankin County.
Capt. C. McLaurin's company of partisan rangers, is mentioned in official records as being at Port Hudson, Louisiana in August of 1862, with 67 men. It is mentioned again as being with Co. J.M. Simonton at Ponchatoula, Louisiana on April 30, 1863.
The combined Hughes and Stockdale Battalions under the command of Col. John L. Logan, defeated on August 3, 1863, near Jackson, East Feliciana Parish, a detachment, mainly of the "Corps d'Afrique", under Lt. Hanham, who were out collecting Negro recruits. Union General Andrews, commanding at Port Hudson, reported a loss of 78 officers and men and the battery of two Parrot guns, with horses and caissons. Logan lost 12 killed and wounded. He asked General Hardee, then commanding in Mississippi, "What disposition shall I make of negroes captured in arms?" There is no record of Hardee's reply. General S.D. Lee was subsequently instructed to investigate the rumor that Hanham and 22 Negroes were killed. About this time the headquarters of Logan's command was changed to Crystal Springs in Copiah County, Mississippi.
During the reconnaissance of McPherson's Federal command from Vicksburg to Canton [in Mississippi] in October, 1863, Stockdale's Battalion, with the Cavalry Brigade under Colonel Logan, skirmished at Bogue Chitto, near Brownsville [in Hinds County, northeast of Jackson] on October 16, with Stockdale in front on the skirmish line. They held the Federal cavalry in check and retired only when outflanked by Union infantry, according to McPherson's report. The following day, near Livingston, the Battalion was again in the front of a considerable engagement.
These troops were under the command of CSA General Wirt Adams when he occupied Ellis Cliffs on December 6, 1863, and Stockdale's Battalion joined in the pursuit of the enemy to Natchez after the skirmish that followed.
On January 19, 1864, the regiment was ordered to report to Gen. S. D. Lee at Jackson, who was preparing the meet the Sooy Smith raid from LaGrange, Tennessee. By early February the regiment had still not yet reported because they were at Brandon [Rankin County, Mississippi], scattered on conscript duty. They soon became involved in the series of unsuccessful actions to halt the much written about march of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman across the middle of the Confederacy.
Stockdale's Battalion was with the Brigade [of Gen. Wirt Adams; in the division of Gen. W.H. Jackson; under Maj. Gen. S.D. Lee; under Lieut. Gen. Polk headquartered at Meridian, Mississippi] in the gallant stand made against McPherson's column of Sherman's army near Champion Hill [between Vicksburg and Jackson] on February 4, 1864, Sherman being on the march to Meridian. When Adams was compelled to fall back towards Baker's Creek, Stockdale made a brilliant charge upon the Federal flanking column that had forced this movement. Of Wood's Regiment and Stockdale's Battalion, in this action, Adams wrote that "nothing could surpass the unflinching steadiness and courage of these commands," which elicited the commendation of Major General S.D. Lee, who was with the Brigade.
The stubborn fight on the morning of February 5th, at Baker's Creek bridge, was made by Griffith's Arkansas Regiment and Stockdale's Battalion and King's Battery, who engaged the whole Federal line, "offering the most determined resistance and maintaining their position until the last moment, Colonel Griffith and Major Stockdale, as usual, distinguishing themselves by their gallant and fearless bearing," wrote Adams in his official report of the action.
At the next position, beyond Clinton, when Adams was outflanked, "the enemy poured a severe volley into Major Stockdale's Battalion [which was] acting as rear guard." Then the brigade moved northeast toward Canton, being outflanked from Jackson, and from Canton they moved, General Lee with them, eastwards towards Meridian, but without opportunity for action, then north to Starkville, then southwest to the vicinity of Sherman's army, now at Canton. From February 29 to March 2, they did what damage they could along the flank of Sherman's army and returning to the Big Black River. "In these affairs," Adams wrote, "Major Stockdale, Captain Muldrow and Captain Yerger were the most conspicuous and gallant participants. I have to lament the loss of Captain Magruder, of the Fourth Mississippi, who fell seriously, if not mortally, wounded, while leading a charge near Canton."
In May of 1864, the regiment, brigaded under Colonel Mabry, was engaged in the campaign against McArthur's expedition from Vicksburg, which moved in two columns toward Mechanicsburg. On May 5th, the Arkansas Regiments met the Union forces at Mechanicsburg and engaged them in a sharp skirmish which lasted into the night. The next morning, the 6th, the enemy advanced on three roads and a detachment of Ellet's Marine Brigade landed at Liverpool. Mabry fell back to Benton, in Yazoo County, and gave battle two miles beyond there on May 7th, repulsing several cavalry charges, until the whole Federal force came up and he was compelled to retreat, the Fourth Cavalry covering the right flank. All progress of the enemy's cavalry was blocked the next day. On the 9th of May, Gen. Wirt Adams arrived with Wood's Regiment.
They continued to hold the enemy together near Benton, through the following days, with continual skirmishing on the various roads. An attempt to destroy the railroad bridge over the Big Black River was defeated on the 14th by two companies of Mabry's Brigade, and two of Wood's Regiment. The Union force began to retreat on the 15th and the Fourth Cavalry was sent to strike their flank, but did not arrive in time. On the 18th there was a severe skirmish at Mechanicsburg. The depredations on private property, General Mabry reported, were intensely wanton, but he had been able to prevent widespread destruction.
Mabry's Brigade, comprised of the Sixth, Thirty-eighth, and Fourth Mississippi, and the Fourteenth Confederate Cavalries, 1,000 strong, was temporarily assigned to Buford's Division in the Tupelo campaign, in the northeast quadrant of the state, during mid-July of 1864. The Brigade moved to Saltillo where it joined Buford, who had Lyon's Kentucky Brigade with him at Ellistown. On July 13th, General Forrest, with Mabry's Brigade, followed closely the Union Column as it moved from Pontotoc toward Tupelo.
When the Union forces took position at Harrisburg, a short distance west of Tupelo, Mabry's Brigade was formed on the left of the road. In the assault on July 14th, Gen. Buford's official report states, "Mabry's and Bell's Brigades advanced to within close musket range and engaged the enemy. Approaching gradually they poured a very destructive fire upon [the Union] line. Arriving at the open space and having to cross a cornfield, they slowly advanced, but so deadly was the concentrated fire that, after penetrating some fifty steps, they retired to the cover of the timber, where they kept up a heavy and continual fire upon the enemy for three hours."
Lieutenant Colonel Stockdale, commanding the regiment, was wounded. He was among those commended for gallantry. Captains William M. Martin and John B. McEwen were killed. The total casualties of the regiment were 13 killed, and 39 wounded.
One member of the Brigade wrote afterwards, "About daylight we were dismounted and formed the front line of battle about one mile from the enemy. About one hour by sun we were ordered to advance, which was done in gallant style, driving in a heavy line of skirmishers under a galling fire of artillery and musketry. Furiously we dashed on to the slaughter. Owing to the extreme heat and our rapid movement many men and officers fell exhausted. Our line looked like a line of skirmishers, but on it went. When in about sixty yards of the enemy's line of fortifications we were ordered to halt, when we lay down and loaded and fired for more than an hour in an open field and remained there until a second line was brought up within 100 yards of us and had fallen back. We were then ordered back and moved off in good order."
The Brigade went into the battle with about 600 men and had 273 killed, wounded, or reported missing.
General S.D. Lee, writing of the conflicting orders that had delayed the reinforcements under Chalmers said, "Mabry and Bell were still holding their positions and fighting desperately." But, Chalmers arrived "too late to do much good, as the ammunition of Mabry and Bell was about exhausted and they had met with severe losses. If any troops could have carried the lines in front of them, these brave men would have done it."
The Brigade, now under the command of Colonel Griffith, of one of the Arkansas regiments, was in the field during Colonel Osband's raid from Vicksburg to destroy the railroad bridge near Canton, and participated in the fight at Concord Church near Yazoo City, on December 1, 1864. A detachment of the Fourth, under Colonel Wilbourn, was held in reserve to pursue the enemy.
Although the Fourth Mississippi Cavalry ended its career officially attached to Forrest's Cavalry Corps, no records have been found to show that it took part in the final operations of Forrest's command against Wilson's raid into central Alabama. It is probable that the regiment was ordered to remain in Mississippi, watching for Federal raids into that state. A detachment of the Fourth Mississippi under the command of Col. Wilbourn did reach Selma, Alabama during the battle there on April 2, 1865, but arrived too late to take part in it. They joined the retreat of Confederate forces under General Forrest to Livingston, Alabama, eventually surrendering at Gainesville on May 1, 1865.
The regiment was included among the Confederate troops of the Department of Alabama, Mississippi, and East Louisiana surrendered at Citronelle, Alabama on May 4, 1865. Records indicate that the regiment's members were paroled at Columbus, Mississippi in mid-May, 1865.
Sources:
"Source Records From Pike County, Mississippi 1798-1910"; Luke Ward Conerly; Brandon Printing Company, Nashville, Tennessee.
1909. Reprint. Southern Historical Press, Easley, South Carolina. 1989. pp.203-207.
"Military History of Mississippi 1803-1898"; Dunbar Rowland; The Reprint Company, Spartanburg, South Carolina. 1988. pp.407-413.
"Fourth Mississippi Cavalry"; author unknown, The Harold B.Simpson Confederate Research Center, Hillsboro, Texas.
nd.
Dunbar Rowland's "Military History of Mississippi"
Recollections of Thomas D. Duncan
History of the 46th Mississippi Infantry
History of the 1st Mississippi Infantry (State Troops)
History of the 45th Virginia Infantry
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