The 6th Alabama Cavalry was organized near Pine Level early in 1863, This regiment was part of a brigade commanded by Brigadier-General James Holt Clanton (1827–1871), a Montgomery attorney that had served as a U.S. Army private in the Mexican War during 1848. In November 1861 Clanton had raised and commanded the 1st Alabama Cavalry as a Colonel, a regiment that served with distinction at the bloody Battle of Shiloh (April 1862).