The War for Southern Independence:
2nd
Mississippi Partisan Rangers Cavalry
(aka
Ballentine’s Regiment MS Cavalry)
(from Dunbar
Rowland’s "Military History of Mississippi,
1803-1898"; company listing courtesy of H. Grady
Howell’s "For Dixie Land, I’ll Take My Stand’)
Company A -- Ford’s Company (raised in Carroll County,
MS)
Company B -- Lott’s Company (raised in Louisiana)
Company C -- Porter’s Company (raised in Tennessee)
Company D [also listed as Co. L] -- Anderson’s Company
(raised in Tennessee)
Company E -- McDowell’s Company (raised in Tippah County,
MS)
Company F -- Reason’s Company (raised in Calhoun,
Marshall, Tishomingo, & Yalobusha
Counties, MS)
Company G -- Martin’s Company (raised in Lafayette
County, MS)
Company H -- Ballentine’s Guards (raised in Panola
County, MS)
Company I -- Eskridge’s Company (raised in Tallahatchie
& Yalobusha Counties, MS)
Company K -- Jernigan’s Company (raised in Panola County,
MS)
Colonel -- John G. Ballentine, July, 1862, to 1865.
Lieutenant-Colonel -- William L. Maxwell, March, 1863, to
1865. Major -- William H. Ford, March, 1863, to1865. Adjutant
-- V. V. Moore. Quartermaster -- W. D. Heflin. Assistant
Surgeon -- A. Brogden, 1864 to 1865. Non-commissioned staff --
C.F. Bullock, Sergeant-Major; James Hunt, Quartermaster
Sergeant; F. L. Burton, Commissary Sergeant; J. J Wilson,
Ordnance Sergeant; Allen F. Laird, Bugler.
This regiment was formed in time to participate in the
operations attending the battles of Iuka, Corinth and
Coffeeville, September-December, 1862, but is not mentioned in
the official reports available. The regiment never received a
number and was known throughout the war as Ballentine's
Battalion or Regiment. Ballentine had been Captain of Company
A in the Tennessee Regiment which Col. W. H. Jackson commanded
in Mississippi in 1862. He was distinguished for personal
valor in the cavalry fight at Lockridge Mills, Tenn., May 5,
1862, where he commanded five companies of Jackson's Regiment.
In January, 1863, "Ballentine's Battalion," 259
strong, was listed among the troops to accompany Van Dorn's
expedition into Tennessee. It was assigned to the Second
Brigade of W. H. Jackson's Division, and in February to
Cosby's (First) Brigade, which was transferred from Jackson's
to Gen. Will T. Martin's Division. In parting with the
regiment at Okolona, February 6, 1863, Gen. W. H. Jackson, in
special orders, expressed his "heartfelt thanks to the
officers and men for their cheerfulness and attention to every
duty, the hearty cooperation at all times displayed by them,
and his admiration of their cool, determined courage in every
engagement while under his command, also his regrets at losing
them from his division."
Ballentine's Regiment, with Pinson's and Starke's and
Woodward's Kentuckians, formed the brigade of General Cosby,
in Martin's Division of Van Dorn's Cavalry Corps in the
campaign in Middle Tennessee, March and April, 1863. The
brilliant achievement of the campaign was the capture at
Spring Hill, or Thompson's Station, March 5, of Gen. John
Coburn's Brigade. The main fight was made by the brigades of
Jackson, Armstrong, Whitfield and Forrest. General Van Dorn
reported that General Martin, with Cosby's Brigade, arrived on
the field and took position on Coburn's right flank, preparing
for a charge and cutting off the only way of escape, when
Coburn surrendered. The brigade also participated in the
attack at Franklin, April 10, 1863. (See First and
Twenty-eighth Regiments). Soon afterward the brigade made a
rapid march of 400 miles to the Big Black River, Grant having,
in the absence of Van Dorn's Corps, succeeded in establishing
his army in a secure position between that river and
Vicksburg, with his base of supplies on the Yazoo. The brigade
covered the retreat of General Johnston from the Big Black to
Jackson after the surrender of Vicksburg, and afterward was
stationed between the Big Black and Pearl Rivers, guarding the
country from raids.
The Crosby Brigade, in September, 1863, included the Fourth
Cavalry, Maj. J. L. Harris; Twenty-eighth Cavalry, Capt. S. B.
Cleveland; Col. J. G. Ballentine's Regiment; Wirt Adams'
Regiment, Capt. Robert Muldrow; and Lieut. N. M. Martin's
escort company. The brigade, under command of Wirt Adams,
participated in the operations against McPherson's expedition
from Vicksburg towards Canton, October, 1863, skirmishing near
Bolton and Clinton, under the command of Gen. W. H. Jackson.
In the organization of cavalry under Maj.-Gen. S. D. Lee,
in February, 1864, Ballentine's Regiment, with Pinson's and
Starke's, formed the brigade of Colonel Starke, in W. H.
Jackson's Division. When Sherman crossed the Big Black on his
campaign to destroy Meridian and the railroads and immense
army stores, Starke met Hurlbut's column near the Joe Davis
plantation, and from that place to Jackson, Ballentine’s
Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Maxwell, was engaged in
skirmishing through February 4 and 5. A flank movement by the
Federal cavalry under Colonel Winslow caused the hurried
abandonment of Jackson. Afterward the brigade annoyed the
advance to Meridian and skirmished briskly with Winslow as
Sherman was about to enter the city, February 14. Thence they
moved to Starkville, to assist Forrest against the Sooy Smith
raid, but found the battle over there. They next operated
against Sherman's troops at Canton, skirmishing February
27-29, and picking up several foraging parties. The last
skirmish was near Brownsville, March 2, Sherman recrossing the
Big Black next day.
Capt. Edward E. Porter was commanding the regiment in
April, 1864, Lieutenant- Colonel Maxwell in June and later.
Maxwell, with a detachment from his regiment and Starke's,
operated against deserters and tories in Walker and Winston
Counties, Ala., in April. Gen. Frank C. Armstrong took command
of the brigade, which was ordered to Georgia, arrived at Rome
May 14, and was engaged at Adairsville, May 17, after which it
was constantly on duty and in frequent skirmishes until after
the evacuation of Atlanta, September 1. May 28, near Dallas,
the brigade dismounted, made a reconnaissance against the
Federal intrenched position, suffering heavy loss.
The regiment, in Armstrong's Brigade, Jackson's Division,
crossed the Tennessee River near Florence, November 16-17, and
began the march into Tennessee November 21, under the command
of Major-General Forrest. Armstrong's Brigade was in battle
during the remainder of November, principally at Lawrenceburg,
Campbellsville, Columbia, Spring Hill and Franklin, in the two
latter engagements, November 29-30, fighting both as cavalry
and infantry. In December they followed the Federal army to
Nashville and moved thence to besiege Murfreesboro, where they
were particularly distinguished in battle December 7. After
the disaster at Nashville, they served as rear guard on the
retreat, and fought at Columbia, Warfield's, Richland Creek,
Pulaski, King's Hill and Sugar Creek, December 22-26. The
casualties of the regiment were 4 killed, 15 wounded. (See
also First and Twenty-eighth Regiments).
February 22, 1865, General Chalmers ordered Ballentine's
Regiment consolidated with the Seventh, in Armstrong's
Brigade. Armstrong's Brigade held the line of works at Selma,
Ala., April 2, 1865, which was carried at a heavy cost in
killed and wounded by Long's Division of Wilson's Cavalry
expedition.
All the troops of the department were paroled under the
capitulation of Lieut.-Gen. Richard Taylor May 4, 1865.
General Forrest's command surrendered at Gainesville, Ala.,
May 22, 1865.
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