Jenifer’s Cavalry

Lieutenant Colonel Walter H. Jenifer commanded the 300-man cavalry force in Colonel Nathan Shanks Evan’s Confederate brigade. Jenifer had some 70 troopers with him at Ball’s Bluff, including portions of the Chesterfield Light Dragoons, the Loudoun Cavalry, and the Wise Dragoons. After breaking the Union line near the Jackson house, a portion of the cavalry dismounted because of the rough and wooded terrain. An estimated one-third of these men joined several companies of Mississippi infantry and fought on foot during the engagement. The rest remained mounted, scouting on the periphery some distance north of the main battlefield. The mounted men were not actively engaged in the fighting but, as Jenifer noted, were watching the enemy’s flanks during the day. Source: Official Records of the Civil War.