The Michiganders went on railroad guard duty in March 1862 as the Union army advanced into Tennessee following Ulysses S. Grant’s captures of Forts Henry and Donelson. The regiment’s first taste of active military operations came when Confederate cavalryman John Hunt Morgan launched a raid through Tennessee and Kentucky in July. The 11th regiment, in conjunction with other Federal units, was dispatched on a wild goose chase that culminated in a narrow miss at surrounding Morgan’s entire force at Paris, Kentucky. The regiment, in conjunction with other units, later caught up with a detachment of Morgan’s troopers at Gallatin, Tennessee, on August 13, 1862, firing the first volleys in the regiment’s history. The Michiganders claimed to have inflicted numerous casualties on Morgan’s force, though Morgan’s subordinate Basil Duke (who was not present) later denied any Confederate losses. The Michiganders and their Federal counterparts pillaged Gallatin while there, embittering Morgan and hardening his attitude toward Union civilians.