Saunders’ Battalion Mississippi Cavalry
(aka Saunders’ Scouts)
(from Dunbar Rowland’s "Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898"; company listing courtesy of H. Grady Howell’s "For Dixie Land, I’ll Take My Stand’)
Company A -- Hill’s Company (raised in Chickasaw County, MS) [became part of 18th MS Cavalry]
Company B -- Saunders’ Company (county of origin not specified) [became part of 18th MS Cavalry]
Company C -- Mann’s Company (raised in Monroe County, MS) [became part of 12th Battalion MS Cavalry, then part of 10th MS Cavalry]
General Forrest ordered Capt. B. F Saunders, with his company of scouts, operating in the Mississippi bottom, to join Rucker's Brigade, May 24, 1864. Chalmers, at Water Valley, ordered to leave Forrest's and Saunders' companies at Panola in observation of enemy, as Chalmers moved to Grenada. In March General Chalmers relieved Capt. Saunders of command, but the order was suspended by General Forrest and Saunders ordered to report to Col. J. A. Forrest at Hernando. It was hoped that Saunders' and Mitchell's old companies could be filled and used to break up the cotton trade with Memphis and arrest deserters.
March 16, 1865, at Columbus, Miss., Saunders' company was assigned as Company B, Capt. B. F. Saunders commanding, to a consolidated regiment [18th MS Cavalry -- Transcriber] formed from Chalmers' Battalion and part of Fifth Regiment Cavalry, which see.
Do you have an ancestor in this unit? If so, contact the Mississippi Department of Archives and History for his service record. Then contact us for a membership application.
