From the summer of 1863 the 56th Alabama Regiment served in the brigade of Samuel Wragg Ferguson. Ferguson and his brigade remained in Georgia when Wheeler's cavalry crossed the Savannah River into South Carolina. From late April until early May 1865 the brigade escorted Jefferson Davis and the remains of the Confederate government from Charlotte NC to Washington GA. Officers and men later disbanded at Forsyth GA.
Here are a few items from the LSU archives about General Ferguson (West Point Class of 1857) and his Alabama-Mississippi brigade.
http://www.lib.lsu.edu/special/findaid/1416m.pdf
FERGUSON (SAMUEL WRAGG) PAPERS
“Life in Confederate States Army, General Hood’s Campaign, July, 1864-May, 1865,” relating the details of the Atlanta campaign – the Battle of Peachtree Creek (July 20, 1864) with great losses to the Confederacy, the death of U. S. Army General James Birdseye McPherson and the death of Confederate General William Henry Talbot Walker in the Battle of Atlanta (July 22, 1864), the burning of Atlanta, Sherman’s march to the sea, Ferguson’s assignment to follow with all Confederate cavalry in Georgia, Ferguson’s detention against his will at Macon by order of Confederate General Howell Cobb who feared some detached force from Sherman’s army might burn the city, Ferguson’s retreat from Savannah to South Carolina, the promotion of Pierce Manning Butler Young to the rank of Major General in the Confederate Army, the rumor that Jefferson Davis had commissioned Ferguson as a Major General, although notice of the promotion had never reached Ferguson because Colonel Horace Miller had persuaded Davis to hold back the commission, the depredations of an African American brigade under command of General Robert Brown Potter and Ferguson’s commission to ascertain information as to its position and strength, the reception of the news of Robert E. Lee’s surrender, the last Confederate council of war held at Abbeville, S.C., in the house of a Colonel Burt, the resignation of members of the Confederate cabinet, and the disbanding of Confederate troops.
Extracts From a Journal kept the latter Part the Civil War
Relating the demoralization [and insubordination] of the troops under Ferguson’s command upon receipt of the news of Joseph E. Johnston’s surrender, the abusive speeches of several of his subordinate officers in an effort to convince soldiers that Ferguson’s command had been legally surrendered by General Johnston, the compliance of Lt. Graham, commanding the 12th Mississippi Cavalry, with his order to report to General John C. Breckenridge, the advice of Gen. Breckenridge to Ferguson to disband his brigade without further useless sacrifice.