FYI - Approximately 300 men of Tishomingo Co., Miss. who were members of the 26th Miss. not surrendered Feb. 16, 1862 at Ft. Donelson, TN were assigned to the 32nd Miss. in March 1862. "The War Regiment [32nd Miss.] was mentioned in the correspondence of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, March 18, 1862, he writing from Decatur, Ala., advising that 300 men in Tishomingo County, who belonged to the Twenty-sixth [Miss.] Regiment, and were desirous to join the war regiment then being raised by Colonel Lowrey, be organized in three companies [H, I & K] and attached to the new regiment. The field officers were commissioned to date from April 3, 1862, and the return of April 30 shows an aggregate present of 960, present and absent 1,239. In May the regiment was assigned with the Thirty-third to S. A. M. Wood's Brigade, Hardee's Corps." [from Dunbar Rowland’s "Military History of Mississippi, 1803-1898"] According to Tommy Lockhart's research, "Most (26th Miss. members) seem to have been ordered back about Jan. 10, 1863. Some returned on their own prior to the order." [Tommy Lockhart]

Following is unpublished first person excerpt of Civil War letter transcribed by Robert E. "Rob" Swinson that was mailed from "Camp Kill Calf River...Middle Tenn Sept 6th/62" as written by 1st Lt. James H. Burford, Company D [Lowrey Guards], with original spelling errors and my clarifications in brackets [ ]:

"...Our regiment [32nd Miss] will loose
two companies [H & I] or more companies [K] formed
of the men of the 26th Miss that escaped capture
at Fort Donelson. but [Col. Arthur E.] Reynolds has demanded
them of Col Lowrey by order of the Secretory
of War and Gen Bragg Says we will have
to give them up after this expected fight [Battle of Perryville]
Bragg Says he will Send the regiment back to
Miss to recruit when we give up the men
if that should be the case and I am fortu
nate enough to escape the Yankey balls
I may get to see you all,..."

Rob Swinson
reswinson@cox.net
32nd & 45th Miss. (Consolidated) Historian