I am a GGG grandson of Captain William E. Ivey, the commanding officer of I Co., Louisiana 6th Calvary. In the early days of the struggle, this group formed in the area around Hineston, in Rapides Parish, as a mounted militia mostly made up of men from that area and their friends and family members who lived nearby. They were first known as "Cap'n Bill Ivey's Company of Mounted Men". They formed primarily to protect their property and the civilian population from the threat of Union aggression. As the war continued, their mission changed from a defensive posture to offensive operations with the passage by the Confederate Congress of the Partisan Ranger Act in 1862. These operations consisted of capturing deserters and Union sympathizers as well as "hit and run" missions to harass Union forces and to hunt down the infamous Unionist "jayhawkers" who had gained control of most of the Calcasieu swamps. Cap'n Bill's men, known as "bushwhackers", were a Guerrilla band riding under the Black Flag and showed little mercy and for obvious reasons they changed their name to the "Calcasieu Rangers". This is why very little is recorded about this group and others like it such as the Martin Scouts, later to become K Co., also from Rapides Parish. Records from 1864 to the end of the war show the 6th Calvary as a rather passive bunch who were dismounted near the end of the war and attached to an infantry brigade serving as guards and couriers. We may never learn more about the early years of the "Calcasieu Rangers" and other groups like it except from stories handed down through our families. Keep searching.