Following the defeat at Shiloh, Scott's 1st Louisiana Cavalry was one of the few Confederate mounted commands operating against Federal supply and transportation lines in the Tennessee Valley. During the spring of 1862 Scott's exploits made him a hero to the people of Alabama. Among other incidents of the time, Louisiana cavalrymen captured and briefly held the town of Athens, Ala., provoking Federal retaliation against the citizens by Col. Vladimir Turchin and his troops.