Kilpatrick, cavalry, and the First Alabama

Sherman left most cavalry with Thomas and took only Judson Kilpatrick's division, a choice that reveals the campaign's priorities. His blunt assessment of Kilpatrick suggests that cavalry was treated as a risky, expendable tool for screening and disruption rather than the campaign's decisive arm. Sherman appears to have relied heavily on Colonel George Spencer of the First Alabama Cavalry for practical cavalry advice. The regiment was recruited largely from white Southern Unionists around Huntsville and Memphis and served as Sherman's escort. Of the 2,678 white Alabamians reported as joining the Union Army, 2,066 served in this regiment. Only 397 men were present when it mustered out, after 345 deaths, 88 captures, and 279 desertions, while wounds remained poorly documented because men often arranged their own care.