Defenders of the mill were under command of Capt. Ephraim Latham, a former Confederate officer from Jackson County.
http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/ephriam-latham.htm
Attackers belonged to Col. Josiah Patterson's 5th Alabama Cavalry. Rev. Milus Johnston, later a Confederate partisan leader from Jackson County, recalled encountering some of Roddey's men on the south bank of the Tennessee River. Rev. Johnston had endured many indignities at the hand of Federal invaders, and would have been none too charitable towards "home-made Yankees" who had been his neighbors in Jackson County. Johnston
Crossed the Tennessee river at the mouth of Paint Rock river, being sent over by some of Colonel Roddy's men. The writer recollects distinctly to this day that upon reaching the south bank of the river he called a halt and about faced, and straightening himself up, he looked northward and said: "Boys, I have come to the conclusion that God never yet made a man to be slobbered over by dogs; hence I'm going to give those fellows a turn - the best turn I can get into the hopper!"