Much happened at Pensacola before the earliest Confederate regiment organized. Governors of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana agreed to provide militia commands to assist the State of Florida in the Pensacola Bay area. Most were there for less than a month.

Alabama companies ordered to Pensacola by Governor A. B. Moore belonged to the Alabama Volunteer Corps, an organization created by the legislature in February 1860. The prescribed uniform conformed to Federal military regulations in almost every particular. Although many AVC companies which went to Pensacola later entered Confederate service, they were not in Confederate service during their serice at Pensacola. For that reason records of Alabama commands at Pensacola are in the state archives and not found in Confederate service files.

The same is probably true of troops from Mississippi and other states at Pensacola.