 Shortly after the Battle of Richmond on August 29 , 1862 , David Waller Chenault , a Confederate sympathizer from Madison County , came to Richmond to raise a Confederate regiment . On September 10 , 1862 , Chenault was commissioned as a colonel and given command of the regiment , dubbed the 11th Kentucky Cavalry . McCreary joined the regiment and was commissioned as a major , the only one in the unit . The 11th Kentucky Cavalry was pressed into immediate service , conducting reconnaissance and fighting bushwhackers . Just three months after its muster , they helped the Confederate Army secure a victory at the Battle of Hartsville . In 1863 , the unit joined John Hunt Morgan for his raid into Ohio . Colonel Chenault was killed as the Confederates tried to capture the Green River Bridge at the July 4 , 1863 , Battle of Tebbs Bend . McCreary assumed command of the unit after Chenault 's death . Following the battle , he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel on the recommendation of John C. Breckinridge . 
