in Federal reports as being engaged in a skirmish at that point. On May 8, Bishop Paine, in a letter to President Jefferson Davis, reporting on conditions in North Mississippi, listed "Barteau's regiment, 540, 40 with horses, principally armed with shotguns." On May 17, a detachment under Captain Puryear was involved in a skirmish near Albany, Mississippi, and Lieutenant Anderson H. French was commended by General Ruggles for conspicuous gallantry. On August 27, 1863, the regiment was reported in Brigadier General Samuel W. Ferguson's Brigade at Okolona, Mississippi, along with the 2nd Alabama, 56th Alabama and 12th Mississippi Regiments. Barteau's regiment reported an aggregate of 548 on roll. It moved with General Ferguson to Courtland, Alabama, in October, 1863, and en route, was engaged at Fulton, Mississippi, on October 25. In reporting on this engagement, General Ferguson said: "Lieutenant Colonel Morton is due more than a passing tribute. He led his gallant band with a cool skill and determination, admirable in the extreme." The regiment remained in Ferguson's Brigade, Chalmers' Division, until January 26, 1864, when it was ordered to report to Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who had assumed command of the cavalry forces in North Mississippi. In Forrest's first move to reorganize his command on January 25, 1864, he placed Barteau's Regiment in Colonel (later Brigadier General) Tyree H. Bell's Brigade, along with Russell's, Greer's, Newsom's, and Wilson's Regiments. All of these, except Barteau's, were irregular organizations raised during the fall of 1863 in West Tennessee. All of them, again with the exception of Barteau's, were shortly after consolidated and reorganized by General Forrest. On March 7, Bell's Brigade, of Brigadier General A. Buford's Division, was organized with Barteau's Regiment, 2Oth (Russell's) and 21st (Wilson's) Regiments. These regiments, with later additions, remained in Bell's Brigade until the end. The regiment was with General Forrest in his running battle with the force under Major General William Sooy Smith, which ended in the latter's total defeat in the Battle of Tishomingo Creek, or Brices Cross Roads, February 20–21-22, 1864. Reporting on the fighting on the 22nd, Forrest wrote: "About 300 men of the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry, under Colonel Barteau, and the 7th Tennessee Cavalry, Colonel Duckworth, received repeated charges from seven regiments of the enemy in the open field, and drove them back time after time, capturing three stands of colors and one piece of artillery." In 1864, Colonel Barteau