The Mounted Rifles were Confederate troops and the Mounted Infantry were Union. The 3rd Rifles CSA, were recruited in the fall of 1862 in Kentucky and had many men from Owen County. They were attached to Brig. Gen. Humphrey Marshal's command in the mountains of southwestern VA. and saw extensive service in eastern KY including Holston River near Abingdon, VA in the winter of 62/63. They were attached to Hodge's Cavalry Brigade in the summer of 1863 and transferred to the Army of the Tennessee. They fought in many skirmishes and in the big battle of Chicamauga. After Chicamauga, they continued to be led by Captain Havens under Col. Clay, who was under Brigade Commander Gen. Hodge, who was under Gen N. B. Forrest. They took part in the famous raid into middle TN under Gen Wheeler. They were "cut to pieces" in the vicinity of Shelbyville, TN on or about 7 Oct., 1863 and many of the Owen County boys were captured by Union forces from Indiana and transferred to a prison camp in Indianapolis, named Camp Morton. Those who were not killed or captured were returned to southwestern VA in early 64 and served in Gitner's Brigade of John Hunt Morgan's Division. They surrendered at Mt. Sterling, KY in April 1865. The captured men languished at Camp Morton until March, 1865 when many of them "took the oath" and were "galvanized" into the 6th Indiana Volunteers, U. S. Army. This change was as the result of a remarkably poignant speech given by the ranking Confederate officer in the camp, wherein he conceded that the cause was lost and there was no hope that they would be exchanged, and that every man should do what he thought best for himself and his family. Ironically, if they had held out for one more month, they would all have been released anyway. Nevertheless, service in the Union Army got some of them a pension. The 6th Indiana was under the command of Captain David Ezekial. He had his "rebel" forces transferred by rail through Chicago, to Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and then in early June, 1865, he marched them on foot over two hundred miles to Fort Kearney, Nebraska Territory. These were men who had just spent over a year in a Prison which had been a stock yard and fair grounds. They were in poor physical condition at best. My great grandfather John K. Hammon, got a disability pension as a direct result of this, although my father, John Jacob Hammon, who was born in 1884 and remembered talking to him, told me his grandfather had also been wounded in the battle of Chicamauga. Anyone researching their Owen County men Re. the Civil War, will benefit by using an NATF form 80 and submitting it to the National Archives with a request for the man's service AND medical records. Be sure to mention the 6th Indiana as well as the 3rd KY as most records will originate from their service in the Union Army. Gene Hammon