Just a followup on this issue: Further confusing to me is the fact that Maury's 15th Confederate was on the east side of the river up at Claiborne after Blakely and after Ball and Lewis crossed the Bay to Mobile. I assume Maury crossed after Blakely, since there is no mention of the 15th during the fighting at Blakely and it had been stationed on the western shore for awhile. This indicates that troops at Mobile could still cross over to the east side after Blakely was invested, yet Ball and Lewis did not. Do you know if Ball's 8th and Lewis' battalion surrender with Taylor's army at Meridian, or did they go on to Gainesville to join Forrest and surrender their with his corps? This might provide a clue as to whether they were considered part of Forrest's command or not.