After arriving back from the Holly Springs Raid, everyone was in good spirits, until it started raining. All of January there was rain. This complicated training, but did not stop it. The initial detachments of Van Dorn's Corps began moving in late January. The 27th bag and baggage were the last to leave. But by early March all had made the trip to Tennessee and joined up with General Forest's Brigade near the Alabama border.
The first real battle in March was the destruction of a Union Cavalry Regiment near the depot at Thompkin's Station. After this the Corps blocked all Union communication to the south and west. Van Dorn sent detachments all over southern Tennessee. Probably how one of my kin ended up in Elkton and yours in Columbia. The Nolens near you were distant relatives going back to Virginia. I am sure my kin made it home to Lebanon to see their sister and they hopped their brother. but he had died or been killed in 1862. The units camped near Spring Hill and enjoyed the good life of a Cavalryman. Food for horse and man. They even demonstrated in front of Franklin and Nashville, trying to get the Union to come out and fight. In late April the 27th was surprised and lost 9 officers, 112 men and 300 mules and horses to the Union Cavalry General Granger and two regiments of Union Cavalry. In May the popular Major White of the 6th Texas was the only man killed while shooting up boats on the Duck and Tennessee Rivers. Then Van Dorn was killed by a doctor who had come to him for a pass. The doctor was later exeronated by a court for Van Dorn's actions with the man's wife.
After this the need for support at Vicksburg and the lack of an overall leader, caused the breakup of the Corps. In June and July the Brigade returned to Mississippi. Sul Ross took a datchment of 6th and Mississippi cavalry across Alabama to Georgia and stoped a Union Cavalry Corps raid. The Corps thought it had run into an emplaced Infantry Division. He returned to the Brigade about the time Pemberton surrendered Vicksburg. The regiments of the brigade had been working the Big Black River north and east of Vicksburg, thus a few were captured either before the fall or while in Vicksburg on assignment.
The brigade then participated in the seige of Jackson and other operations in the center of Mississippi. This was late July and August of 63. The units fought at Yozoo City both on land and the rivers. During this time frame there was command struggle at all levels. General Johnson began by setting some unit structures that did not work, and General Stephen Lee did his own efforts and the troop morale went down in a hurry. By December Whitfield had been shuffeled off to a staff position at Trans-Mississippi and Ross finally was in command of the Brigade. Slowly at first he brought the unit back from being mired in the mud of Mississippi and the trroops reacted well. Some problems occurred between colored troops and the brigade which today would have ended any officers career. But this was war and the 1860s. Though wrong, nothing happened to Ross. By April the brigade was moving into Alabama and being used to chase diserters. In early May they were deployed to the area of Rome, Georgia and an initial battle of the Atlanta Campaign was fought. All the regiments of the Brigade faught on line and replaced one another for a few hours rest, Only to fight again. Rome, Dalles, New Hope, Kenasaw are names now burnt in History. Sherman wore down Johnson's Army and the Brigade but his cost in men lost was over 40,000. That alone almost cost the North the war, but Lincoln stood behind them. By July each regiment was close to 300 men and officers were being used in a ranging company. Two raids by Union Cavalry near Atlanta, cost the Brigade dearly, but the Union raids were stopped.
Finally Atlanta fell and the Brigade led Hood's Army back to Tennessee. Forrest put the Cavalry out to try to spread the battle at Franklin, but Hood's losses were very bad. Next at Nashville,the Army was defeated again. Hood's retreat was covered by the Brigade directed by Forrest and Ross. These actions led the 27th far and wide. In Grissom's diary he describes the units both working together in maneuvers, or replacing one another in the line. The summer was hot and rainny. The ability to keep powder dry became an art and the Brigade was an artist. Each regiment was hardly bigger than a company.
Until the start of the Atlanta Campaign, prisoners were traded. Soon they filled prisons in the North and South. The Units got smaller and smaller. When they arrived back in Mississippi and Alabama after the Tennessee Campaign there were hardly two hundred in any regiment. This is what was surrendered in May 1865. There were many more names on the rosters than were actually there. They were in hospitals, and homes all across the South. They were in prisons and in graves. Some had give up and gone home and some just gave up. No one knows where they went.
Next I will try to answer specific questions. All of the books on the different regiments desccribe what happened to all. Sometimes they were spread out miles apart. Then they fought shoulder to shoulder as Infantry. They were described as rough and undisciplined, but were to be trusted with any mission. Sounds like Rangers, to me. At my web site each unit has battles, rosters, a history and a biblography. Check it our.