BGen. Tilghman states his Fort Heiman defensive strategy in his Fort Henry after action report (U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880-1901. Volume 7, Part 1, pg. 136-139.):
"As indicated some time since to the general commanding the department, I found it impossible to hold the commanding ground south of the Tennessee River with the small force of badly-armed men at my command, and, notwithstanding the fact that all my defenses were commanded by the high ground on which I had commenced the construction of Fort Heiman, I deemed it proper to trust to the fact that the extremely bad roads leading to that point would prevent the movement of heavy guns by the enemy, by which I might be annoyed, and, leaving the Alabama Battalion of Cavalry and Captain Padgett's spy company on the western bank of the river, transferred the force encamped on that side to the opposite bank. At the time of receiving the first intimation of the approach of the enemy, the Forty-eighth and Fifty-first Tennessee Regiments having only just reported, were encamped at Danville and at the mouth of Sandy, and had to be moved from 5 to 20 miles in order to reach Fort Henry. this movement, together with the transfer of the Twenty-seventh Alabama and Fifteenth Arkansas Regiments from Fort Heiman across the river, was all perfected by 5 a.m. on the morning of the 5th."
I am interested in all three small companies that defended Fort Heiman, but will reserve questions about Capt. Padget and his Spy Company for the Kentucky Message Board.
I know the names of the commanders of the Alabama companies, Capt. William Houston and Capt. David C. Hubbard. From Lt. Col. J.H. Miller's 14 Feb 1862 report (U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880-1901. Volume 7, Part 1, pg. 416.), we know that Houston's and Hubbard's companies retreated to Paris, TN after they were forced out of Fort Heiman. From Col. Thomas Claiborne's initial report after assuming command (U.S. War Department. The War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1880-1901. Volume 52, Part 2, pg. 297-298.), we know that Houston and Hubbard commanded companies in the 1st Confederate Cavalry Regiment. Part 1 of Tennesseans In the Civil War (Tennesseans In The Civil War: A Military History of Confederate and Union Units With Available Rosters of Personnel, Part 1, Section 2 – Confederate Cavalry Units, pg. 46, First Confederate Cavalry Regiment.) tells us that both Alabama companies in the 1st Confederate Cavalry Regiment were replaced by Tennessee companies.
What information is avaliable about Houston's and Hubbard's companies from 14 Feb 1862 until their incorporation into the 1st Confederate Cavalry around 1 Apr 1862, their release from the 1st Confederate, and their actions before their survivors returned to Alabama in the Fall of 1862 to become the experienced core of Company K and Company L of Roddey's 4th Alabama Cavalry Regiment?