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Organized February 14,1863 within Federal lines: reorganized
February 4, 1864: broken up February, 1865 in consolidation and reorganization
of Forrest's Cavalry;some companies in 3rd Consolidated Tennessee Cavalry paroled
at Gainesville, Alabama, May 1865
Field Officers
Colonels:
Robert V. Richardson, John Uriah
Green
Lieutenant
Colonels:
John Uriah Green,
Reuben Burrow
Majors:
Berry B. Benson, Reuben Burrow
Captains:
Ed Daly, Patrick Strickland,
Company "A".
Organized October 1, 1862. Men from Fayette County. Became Company" G",
3rd. (Consolidated) Tennessee Cavalry
James H. Murray, William T.
Carmack, Company "B". Organized October 18, 1862. Men from Fayette County.
Illegally transferred in
August, 1863 as Company "A", 16th (Logwood's)
Regiment. Ordered back by Forrest December, 1863. Became Company "I", 3rd.
Consolidated Tennessee Cavalry.
John U. Green (to Colonel),
John L.Payne, Company "C'".Organized October 18, 1862 in Tipton County.
Orginally in Lieutenant Colonel
Aaron Burrow's Battalion, State
Troops.
James H. Hazlewood, John G. McCalla,
Company "D". Organized November 15, 1862 in Shelby County.
Reuben Burrow (to Major), A. Beatty, S.M. Stewart, Cyrus M.
Stewart, Company "E". Organized October 11, 1862 in Shelby County. Orginally in
Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Burrow's Battalion, State Troops. Became Company "H",
3rd Consolidated Tennessee Cavalry Regiment.
W.A. Bell, Company "F". Organized October 20,
1862, in Fayette County. Became Company "K", 3rd Consolidated Tennessee
Cavalry
Regiment.
Robert A. Field, Company "G". Organized
February 1, 1863 in Tipton County.
J. Slaughter Caruthers, Company
"H". Organized February 13, 1863 in Fayette County.
John H.
Hicks, Company "I". Organized February 13, 1863 in Haywood County.
Illegally transferred in August, 1863 to 17th
(Marshall's) Regiment,
but ordered back by Forrest in December, 1863
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Robert J. Morris,
Company "K". Organized February 13, 1863 in Fayette County.
When
reorganized on February 4, 1864 Companies "G", "H","I" and "K" were
disbanded and the men distributed to other companies. Some men listed as
absent without leave from Company "I" appeared on the rolls of the 14th
(13th) Tennessee Cavalry. Four new companies were added, two of them from
an informal organization known as George W. Bennett's Battalion, one from
the 16th (Logwood's) Regiment and one independant company as
follows:
Captains:
G.W. Bennett, 2nd Company "G". Organized July 16,
1863 in Gibson County. Formerly in Bennett's Battalion.
W.M.
Craddock, 2nd Company "H". Organized October 1, 1863 in Gibson County.
Formerly in Bennett's Battalion.
John B. Scarbrough, 2nd Company
"I". No rolls on file, and no information. Organized November 14,
1863
Benjamin J. McSpadden, 2nd Company "K". Men from Shelby
County. Formerly Company "C", 16th (Logwood's) Regiment.
Colonel
Richardson was appointed Brigadier General December 3, 1863, but his
nomination was withdrawn by President Jefferson Davis February 9, 1864.
Lieutenant Colonel Green was promoted to colonel "for gallantry on the
field", and prior to his appointment had been in command of the regiment
while Colonel Richardson was in command of a brigade.
No rolls were
found on Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Bennet's Battalion, Colonel Green, in
"Lindsley's Annals", said Lieutenant Colonel Burrow was killed in an
attack on the bridges between Humboldt and Jackson in the fall of
1862 and the battalion was broken up. George W. Bennett's Battalion was
another of the informal organizations raised within the Federal
lines.
In a communication dated March 13, 1863, Colonel Richardson
stated that on September 6, 1862 he had recieved authorization from the
Secretary of War to organize a regiment of Partisan Rangers in West
Tennessee; that he had operated in Tipton, Fayette, parts of Haywood,
Hardeman and Shelby Counties, and on February 4, 1863 had completed the
organization of one regiment of 10 companies and had five more companies
partly organized, but had lost the muster rolls in an engagement with the
enemy, and would forward duplicates as soon as possible. The loss of the
muster rolls was confirmed by Major General Hurlbut, USA, who wrote" I
have the orginal books, papers, and muster rolls of the so-called Colonel
Richardson, captured at one of the many times he ran away in West
Tennessee."
There seem to be some breakdown in communication
between Richmond and the officers in the field as to Richardson's
authority, for on March 15, General Hurlbut, speaking of Richardson's
command wrote; " I am assured by high Confederate authority that they act
without, and against orders, and are simply robbers, to be treated as
such. The organization must be exterminated, and the sooner the better."
On March 16, General Cooper wrote Lieutenant John C. Pemberton: " The
authority given R.V. Richardson in September by Secretary of War to raise
companies of Partisan Rangers expired on the 10th ****You are authorized
to revoke the same, if he is still acting under that authority". As a
result, General Pemberton instructed Major Bradford, Assistant Inspector
General, to go to West Tennessee and muster into Confederate service
Richardson's Regiment of Partisan Rangers, and to arrest Colonel
Richardson. " If Richardson be not present, and not mustered in, he will
not have anything to do with the command of the regiment". He also
ordered;
'"Brigadier General J.R. Chalmers will assume command of all
the partisan corps in West Tennessee, organizing and reporting the same;
if mustered, he will arrest Colonel Richardson, and forward him to these
headquaters; if not, he will assist Major Bradford in enforcing and
carrying out the instructions of which he is bearer."
In the
meantime, Colonel Richardson was wounded, and Major Benson killed in an
attack by Federal troops near Bolivar, and the command so beset that
Lieutenant Colonel Green, after consultation with the officers, disbanded
it on April 1. The following day, Lieutenant Colonel Green, Captain
Hazlewood, four other officers and 28 men were captured. According to
Federal Colonel M.K. lawler, Colonel Richardson escaped across the
Mississippi River in a canoe, laden with a fortune he had secured as
extractions and extortions in the enforcement of the Conscript Act, and
which he had converted to his own use.
Lieutenant Colonel Green was
imprisoned at St. Louis for two months, then sent to Norfolk, Virginai,
and thence started to Fort Delaware on the steamer "Maple Leaf". He and
the other prisoners seized the steamer, ran her aground, and escaped,
finally reached Richmond, and from there returned to West Tennessee.
Whatever the difficulties were about Richardson's authority had been
straightened out, for when Green reached West Tennessee he found Colonel
Richardson and the regiment, which moved out of Tennessee and into
Mississippi and reached Okolona on August 10, 1863, with according to
Colonel Richardson, 600 men, about half from the 12th Tennesse and the
balance parts of two other regiments in process of organization. They had
come to Mississippi seeking arms and equipment, and Colonel Richardson
signed as "Agent, Bureau of Conscription in West Tennessee."
In
October, General Chalmers, reporting on an attack on the Memphis and
Charleston Railroad and the engagement at Collierville, Tennessee, October
5-15, 1863, stated "Colonel Richardson joined me on the 8th with his
brigade, the 12th Mississippi, 12th Tennessee, Colonel Neely's and Colonel
Stewart's Regiments, about 950 men, near Salem, Tennessee." In the attack
on Collierville, Companies "A", "C", "E", "F", and "K" (116 men) under
Major Burrow, were absent on detached service. Following this engagement,
the regiment moved back to Water Valley, Mississippi, where on October 28,
Colonel Richardson made the following impassioned plea; "For God and the
country's sake, make your fair promising but never complying Quartermaster
send me skillets, ovens, pots or anything else that will bake bread or fry
meat. I want clothing, shoes and blankets for my naked and freezing
men.********I say again, send me skillets, 225 in number. I cannot fight
anymore until I get something to cook in."
Meanwhile on October 22,
General Chalmers reported he had finally suceeded in collecting the
scattered and independant cavalry in North Mississippi into some military
order, and had divided his command into three brigades, one of which,
under Colonel Richardson, consisted of the 12th Tennessee, 300 effectives,
Neely's Regiment, 200 effectives, and four battalions of Mississippi
Cavalry, 403 effectives. On November 23, Richardson's Brigade was reported
as the 12th Mississippi, 12th Tennessee and Neely's Regiments.
At
about this time, General N.B. Forrest arrived to assume command of all the
cavalry forces in North Mississippi, and proceeded to break up,
consolidate into full regiments, and reorganize all the fragmetary,
skeletal, independant, and paper organizations with he found himself
confronted. He appointed the field officers of the new organizations, and
his actions were eventually confirmed by the Adjutant and Inspector
General's Office, altough not until some months later.
As one of
the first steps, on January 25, 1864, he formed Richardson's Brigade,
Chalmers' Division, with the following components; 12th Tennessee,
Marshall's Regiment, Bennett's Battalion, 15th (Stewart's) Tennessee,
Street's Battalion, Collins' Command, 14th (Neely's) Tennessee, 16th
(Logwood's) Tennessee. Shortly thereafter Bennett's Battalion was
consolidated with the 12th Tennessee to form the reorganized
regiment.
Richardson's Brigade known as the West Tennessee Brigade,
moved yo Grenada, Mississippi on February 23, and made an attack on Yazoo
City March 5. On March 7, it was reported as consisting of the 12th
Tennessee, 7th (Duckworth's), 14th (Neely's) and 15th (Stewart's)
Regiments. On March 20, Duckworth took command of the brigade which
remained with the same components until June 10, when Duckworth's Regiment
was transferred, and Colonel Neely took command of the brigade.
On
June 24, the brigade was a part of Brigadier General Gideon J.
Pillow's forces in an attepted move against General Sherman's rail
connections in Georgia, which ended in an attack on Federal forces at La
Fayette, Georgia. Here the standard of the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry, USA was
captured, but the attack was only partiallu sucessful.
The regiment
was next heard of as part of General Forrest's forces in his raid into the
heart of Memphis on August 21, 1864. On August 30, Forrest formed Colonel
E.W. Rucker's Brigade, Chalmers' Division, composed of Duckworth's,
Green's 12th, Neely's and Stewart's Regiments, and the 26th Battalion
(Forrest's Old Regiment). This brigade continued with the same members
until February, 1865.
On October 10, Forrest's Old Regiment and the
12th Tennessee attacked and drove back a Federal force, supported by
gunboats which was attempting a landing at East Port, Mississippi. On
November 16, Rucker's Brigade was at Florence, Alabama with General
Forrest, as he was preparing to move into Middle Tennessee with General
Hood's Army of Tennessee. It participated in all the fighting in that
campaign, culminating in the Battle of Nashville. A Federal report of the
fighting on the Granny White Pike onDecember 16, reported;" It was in this
melee that amidst intense darkness that the two regiments of 12th
Tennessee Cavalry, Federal and Confederate, met and mixed in mad
confusion, neither knowing the other save by the usual challenge, "Halt.
Who goes there?" It was in this melee that Colonel Rucker lost an arm and
was captured.
Following the retreat from Tennessee and withdrawl
into Mississippi, General Forrest, on February 13, 1865, ordered all
Tennessee troops in his command, fragments, independant companies,
detachments or detached individuals to report to Brigadier General W.H.
Jackson; all Mississippi troops to report to Brigadier General J.R.
Chalmers. At the same time he ordered General Jackson to consolidate and
organize all these forces into six regiments, to constitute two brigades,
one of which was to be commanded by Brigadier General Tyree H. Bell, the
commander of the other to be assigned later.
As a part of this
consolidation and reorganization, the 3rd (Forrest's Old Regiment), and at
least a portion of the 12th Tennessee were consolidated to form the 3rd
Consolidated Tennessee Cavalry Regiment which was paroled at Gainesville,
Alabama, May, 1865
Deo
Vindice
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