Joseph T. Derry , A. M. , Author of School History of the United States; Story of the Confederate War, etc., Confederate Military History, a library of Confederate States Military History: Volume 6, Georgia
Clement Anselm Evans, Ed.

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[411] to brigadier-general, October, 1862, and on returning to duty was assigned to command of an Alabama brigade stationed at Mobile, where he remained until ordered to join the army of Tennessee, April 15, 1863. A few days later, under the legislative action requiring brigades to be commanded by officers of their own States, Generals Johnston and Bragg, after vainly seeking a revocation of the order, were compelled to request General Cumming to turn over his brigade to the senior colonel, and report to General Pemberton in Mississippi. There he took command of a brigade composed of the Thirty-fourth, Thirty-fifth, Thirty-ninth, Fifty-sixth and Fifty-seventh Georgia regiments. These gallant men had their first serious fighting at the battle of Baker's Creek, where a crushing defeat was sustained by General Pemberton, upon whom battle was forced at a time when he did not have his army in position to make even a creditable defense against overwhelming forces. The brigades of S. D. Lee, Barton and Cumming, though they twice rallied and fought with great gallantry, were broken and compelled to leave the field. During the subsequent siege of Vicksburg, General Cumming and his brigade performed their part and endured their share of the suffering with credit. Lieutenant-Colonel Grayton, of Barkaloo's regiment, was especially distinguished as a leader of night attacks upon the enemy's battery before the brigade. After the capitulation the brigade was paroled with the other ‘Vicksburg prisoners.’ In October, 1863, it was reorganized at Decatur, Ga., and then joining the army before Chattanooga, was assigned to Stevenson's division. Being ordered into east Tennessee, it returned to Missionary ridge in time to participate in the disastrous battle, where the conduct of the brigade and its commander is a source of pride and satisfaction to Georgians. Ordered to reinforce General Cleburne on the extreme right, Cumming obtained permission to advance and engage the enemy on his own