Later that month, Breckinridge served as an independent commander in the lower Mississippi Valley, securing Confederate control of the area by taking Port Hudson, which helped halt the federal advance down the Mississippi River. Meanwhile, General Braxton Bragg, commanding the Army of Mississippi, was preparing an invasion of Kentucky, and Breckinridge was ordered to join him. Confederate leaders believed that Breckinridge's presence in the state could spur enlistments. Van Dorn was reluctant to lose command of Breckinridge and his men, and by the time he relented on October 15, Bragg was already retreating from the state after being defeated at the Battle of Perryville. Breckinridge and his division of 7,000 men met Bragg at Murfreesboro, Tennessee. With Kentucky solidly under Union control, Breckinridge's wife and children moved south and followed his troops as closely as was safely possible.