15th (Stewarts's) Tennessee Cavalry Regiment

In July,1863, Francis M.Stewart, formerly lieutenant colonel 22nd Tennessee Infantry, went into West Tennessee with orders to collect Dawson's Battalion, and recruit other companies to complete a regiment,which he proceeded to do. On July 27, Colonel R.V.Richardson, commanding what was known as Richardson's West Tennessee Brigade, Partisan Rangers, ordered all organizations, whether formed or inchoate, to rendezvous at Cotton Grove, Tennessee, prior to moving the brigade into North Mississippi. This movement was so precipitate that the individual companies did not have time to collect all their members, and some companies were cut off entirely and left in West Tennessee. Colonel Stewart stated he brought with him into Mississippi in August,1863,about 150 men, and on August 28,1863, the regiment was organized, and a little later other companies were assigned to replace those that had been cut off.

Companies which were cut off, and on which no muster rolls were found,were:

Captains
John Marshall, Company G; Benjamin Porter, Company H; William Penn, Company I; Gabriel Penn, Company K.

To replace these companies, the following companies were assigned to the regiment by order of the Brigadier General Commanding on November 15,1863.

2nd Company G, James Mister. Organized July 26,1863 in Gibson County. Orginally in Outlaw's Mississippi Partisan Rangers.
2nd Company H, William Curlee. Assigned as Escort to Colonel Richardson September 30,1863. Transferred to Harris' Mississippi Regiment as Company I May 5,1864.
2nd Company I, John Morphis. An independent company of Scouts, Mississippi Cavalry. Transferred to 3rd (Forrest's Old) Regiment as 2nd Company H.
2nd Company K, James Mull. Transferred to 10th Mississippi Cavalry as 2nd Company A.
By this time Lieutenant Colonel Dawson had been paroled, and the field officers of the regiment were as listed as above. The regiment was stationed at Pikeville, Mississippi September 1,1863. It was placed in Colonel R.V.Richardson's Brigade, along with the 12th Mississippi, 12th and 14th (Neely's) Tennessee Regiments, and on October 8 joined Brigadier General J.R.Chalmers for his attack on Collierville, Tennessee, and the other engagements in that operation.

In December, 1863, the regiment,with the brigade moved back into West Tennessee to join Major General N.B.Forrest, who had been appointed to command of the cavalry forces of West Tennessee and North Mississippi, and on December 31, Federal reports said Neely's and Stewart's regiments were near Somerville, Tennessee with most of Forrest's train. Colonel Stewart said "When Forrest was in West Tennessee in December 1863, I brought out 320 men. "Some of these were probably from the companies that were cut off earlier.

On January 25,1864, General Forrest made his first move in the reorganization of his forces, and constituted Richardson's Brigade with the following members; Bennett's Battalion, 15th Tennessee, Street's Battalion, Collins'Command, 14th and 16th Tennessee Regiments. Shortly thereafter, on February 4,1864, in an ordered confirmed by the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office, but not until July 18,1864, General Forrest broke up a number of skeletal organizations, Stewart's Regiment among them, and declared the officers thereof out of commission. He then organized a new regiment with men from Stewart's 15th Regiment, Logwood's 16th Regiment and Street's Battalion, which was known as the 15th Consolidated Tennessee Cavalry, or the 15th Tennessee Cavalry, 2nd Organization.

In this consolidation Companies A and E were consolidated to form C of the new regiment; Company B became A; C and F consolidated to become F, with some men from C going into I; Company G was assigned to the 17th (Marshall's) Regiment; 2nd Company G was broken up; 2nd H became I, Ham's Mississippi Regiment; 2nd I became 2nd Company H, 3rd (Forrest's Old)Regiment; Captain Penn, and probably some men from 1st Company K beceme part of Company H; and 2nd Company K became Company A, 10th Mississippi Cavalry.