6th Kentucky Infantry The 6th Kentucky Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment that served in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War . It was part of the First Kentucky Brigade . Service . The 6th Kentucky Infantry was organized November 19 , 1861 at Bowling Green , Kentucky and mustered in under the command of Colonel Joseph Horace Lewis . At the Battle of Shiloh , the regiment was brigaded with the 4th Alabama Infantry , 31st Alabama Infantry , 3rd Kentucky Infantry , 4th Kentucky Infantry , and 9th Kentucky Infantry . The regiment retreated to Corinth , Mississippi after the battle and was ordered to Vicksburg , Mississippi to aid in the defenses there . The regiment remained at Port Hudson , Louisiana until August 20 , 1862 , when it was ordered to Jackson , Mississippi . Later , Major General John C . Breckinridge was ordered to take the 4th Kentucky Infantry , 6th Kentucky Infantry , and 9th Kentucky Infantry with him and report to General Braxton Bragg . The regiment came under heavy fire at the Battle of Stones River on January 2 , 1863 . Having been ordered by Bragg to attack an area that division commander Major General John C . Breckinridge had reconnoitered and determined to be too heavily defended , the First Kentucky Brigade led the charge . Although initially successful , the brigade was met by heavy Union Army artillery fire . Brigade commander Brigadier General Roger Hanson was also mortally wounded in the attack . Later that same year , the First Kentucky Brigade was ordered back to Vicksburg , to help relieve the siege . The brigade arrived after the fall of Vicksburg on July 4 , 1863 , and fell back to Jackson , Mississippi where they were attacked in mid - July . At the Battle of Chickamauga the 4th Kentucky Infantry and 6th Kentucky Infantry charged a part of the federal line , defended by the 15th Kentucky Infantry and Bridges ' Illinois Battery . The two regiments routed the infantry and captured two cannons , turning them on the fleeing enemy . Weeks later , the 6th Kentucky Infantry was called upon to guard the Confederate army ' s retreat following the Battle of Missionary Ridge . The army retreated to Dalton , Georgia and went into winter quarters . The First Kentucky Brigade became part of the Atlanta Campaign on May 7 , 1864 when they left their winter camps at Dalton , Georgia and took up positions on Rocky Face Ridge . The regiment became part of the fighting retreating force as Major General William T . Sherman pushed the Confederates further back toward Atlanta . At the Battle of Dallas near New Hope Church , the First Kentucky Brigade made an unsupported charge , losing 51 % of its strength . At the Battle of Jonesboro on August 31 , 1864 the brigade was ordered to attack the entrenched federal position . At an unseen deep ravine , the attack came to a halt . The following day , the Confederates were overwhelmed when two - thirds of a Union Army division attacked and began to surround their positions . Many of the men of the 2nd Kentucky Infantry , 6th Kentucky Infantry , and 9th Kentucky Infantry were captured . The remnants of the brigade fell back and managed a successful defense against the Union assault , bringing it to a halt . On September 4 , only 500 men were present for duty in the entire First Kentucky Brigade . That same month , the regiment was converted to mounted infantry at Griffin , Georgia . The regiment was engaged in delaying tactics during Sherman ' s March to the Sea , following him all the way to Savannah , Georgia , finally moving to Augusta , Georgia in early 1865 . The regiment ' s last engagement was on April 29 , 1865 in a skirmish near Stateburg , South Carolina . The regiment was ordered to Washington , Georgia and surrendered on May 7 , 1865 .