Re: 3rd Mississippi Cavalry
The state government purchased arms and equipment after the Harper's Ferry crisis and before secession. State inventories plus Federal arms conviscated from U.S. armories were used to arm the volunteers of 1861. All of this was long gone by the time your ancestor enrolled in state service in 1863. Mississippi had literally nothing to give these men, and in any case the Confederate government required cavalryment to provide their own mounts (a horse if possible and a mule if not). An inspection report of McGuirk's regiment made in May of 1864 shows that few officers and men carried any arms whatsoever. Shortly afterwards the brigade was dismounted and sent by rail to Atlanta for temporary infantry service.