Alan J. Pitts
Co. K, 2nd Mississippi "Iuka Rifles"
Tue May 22 22:56:09 2001


This company was in Virginia so no consolidation with a cavalry unit would have been considered. There were three Joslyns in this company: John F., Samuel M. and William. It's interesting that M. D. Moreland was captain of the "Burnsville Blues", Co. "E", 17th Mississippi, another Virginia command. Daniel W. Joslyn joined this unit. Moreland resigned in July 1862 and came home to raise Co. "C", Roddey's 4th Alabama Cavalry Regiment, which organized at Warren's Mills, Sept. 7, 1862. John F. Joslyn was a member of this company when it formed. George W. and Reuben B. Joslin evidently claimed to be members of this same command, although nothing but reference cards appear in Roddey's 4th Alabama under their names.

There's a rather curious entry under J. F. Joslyn in Moreland's Cavalry records. His company became Co. "D" of that command. He transferred to Co. "K" on February 1, 1864 when Moreland's Battalion expanded to regimental size. However, a POW record shows him to have been captured on Oct. 21, 1863 by a 'Capt. Richardson' and sent to Memphis TN. The record shows that he was released three days later. This was highly unusual; I can't explain it.

George W. and Reuben R. Joslyn belonged to Capt. L. W. Burgess' Company, which organized at Dickson Sation, Ala., May 1, 1863, as Co. "H", Moreland's Battalion. Records show them both to have been captured either on Oct. 30, Oct. 31 or Nov. 1, 1863, near Corinth, near Iuka, or at Chewalla, depending on which POW record you read. I suspect the records for William Joslyn say the same thing. Evidently they were all sent to Alton, IL prisoner-of-war camp. The records include identical statements they made to prison officials, both men claiming that they had been conscripted, did not wish to be exchanged and were willing to join the Federal army. George Joslyn died of pneumonia there on Dec. 14, 1863; Reuben died of typhus on Dec. 20/21, 1863.

To complete the records from Moreland's Cavalry, Daniel Joslyn joined Co. "H" on May 1, 1864. He was shown to be present on roll Sept. 16, 1864, but with no later record.

Elsewhere I mentioned General Forrest's opinion of this command. Here are Forrest's comments in full, dated Oct. 12, 1864, from the Official Records, ser. 1, vol. XXXIX, part 2, page 817:

"A sense of duty to my Government constrains me to call attention to the large number of stragglers in General Roddey's command. I do so in no spirit of unkindness toward that gallant and meritorious officer, who will certainly remedy the evil when his attention shall have been called to it. On my recent trip from Cherokee to this place I found his men at every stopping-place, some of them with passes from every grade of subordinate officer, and many with no passes at all. Most of these men are from Moreland's command, and that officer deserves the severest punishment on account of his disregard of law. At Burnsville I found many stragglers, and on my approach they fled as if the enemy had made his appearance in their midst. Such a state of affairs is disreputable and humiliating to my feelings. It is a burlesque upon military discipline. All applications for leave of absence for a longer period than ten days I shall refer to you for your action, and unless something of the sort is required of General Roddey his command will still be found scattered over the country with furloughs and passes from all grades of officers."

N. B. FORREST,
Major General.

I hope this helps your search.