with half his command, made his headquarters below the Tallahatchie for the purpose of organizing his men and preparing for that brilliant defense of Northern Mississippi which confirmed his fame as one of the greatest generals of the age.
At the close of 1863 the Federal troops in Mississippi were stationed as follows: 4,000 under Gen. J. D. Stevenson at Corinth; about 16,000 at and near Vicksburg, 2,500 cavalry at Hebron, and 150 at Natchez, under General McPherson. At Memphis and La Grange, Tenn., were about 20,000 of Hurlbut’s corps.
On the Confederate side, in the latter part of 1863, there were still about 2,500 men present in the parole camp at Enterprise, under command of General Forney. General Loring's division, with headquarters at Canton, contained the brigades of Buford, Featherston and John Adams. Featherston's brigade, entirely Mississippian, was made up of the Third regiment, Col. T. A. Mellon; Twenty-second, Lieut.-Col. H.J. Reid; Thirty-first, Lieut.-Col. M. D. L. Stephens; Thirty-third, Col. D. W. Hurst; First battalion sharpshooters, Maj. James M. Stigler. Adams' brigade included the Sixth regiment, Col. Robert Lowry; Fourteenth, Lieut.-Col. Washington L. Doss; Fifteenth, Col. M. Farrell; Twentieth, Lieut.-Col. Wm. N. Brown; Twenty-third, Maj. G. W. B. Garrett; Twenty-sixth, Col. Arthur E. Reynolds; First Confederate battalion, Lieut.-Col. George H. Forney.
French's division still included the brigades of Ector, McNair and Cockrell. In Forney’s division Baldwin's brigade had been exchanged and armed: Fourth Mississippi, Col. Thomas N, Adair; Thirty-fifth, Col. William S. Barry; Thirty-ninth, Lieut.-Col. W. E. Ross; Fortieth, Col. W. Bruce Colbert; and Forty-sixth, Col. C. W. Sears. In the brigade of W. W. Mackall, the Forty-third, Col. Richard Harrison, was reported organizing at Columbus, and the Thirty-sixth, Col. W. W. Witherspoon; Thirty-seventh, Col. Orlando S, Holland; Thirty-eighth, Lieut.-
