Hi Darla, On February 3, Major General W.T. Sherman, along with over 26,000 men left Vicksburg, Mississippi on an expedition to destroy Confederate held railroads in the state and to damage the enemy in and about Meridian. Cooperating with Sherman were some 7,600 cavalry from Memphis under William Sooy Smith, who was delayed in starting. Confederates in Mississippi, under General Leonidas Polk, were scattered and numbered roughly 20,000. In a light action at Liverpool Heights on the Yazoo River, Federal gunboats silenced enemy batteries. On February 4th, skirmishing became heavier as Sherman's men advanced from Vicksburg through the old battlefields of 1863. As Polk's Confederates fell back before the invaders, fighting broke out at Liverpool Heights, Champion's Hill, Edward's Ferry, and near Bolton Depot in what became the Meridian Campaign. I hope this helps give some idea of what was going on when your ancestor was captured. Edward