The Second Alabama Cavalry Regiment was organized at Montgomery on 1 May 1862. It proceeded to West Florida and operated there about ten months, engaging in several skirmishes. Ordered to north Mississippi, the regiment was placed with Brig. Gen'l Daniel Ruggles. It then lost 8 men in a skirmish at Mud Creek.

It was then placed in Brig. Gen'l Samuel W. Ferguson's Brigade and operated in the Tennessee Valley, taking part in numerous skirmishes.

The 2nd fought Union Gen'l Benjamin H. Grierson at Okolona with a loss of about 70 men killed and wounded; then it harassed Union Gen'l William T. Sherman on his march to and from Mississippi.

Joining Gen'l Joseph Wheeler, the 2nd performed arduous duty on the flank of the army in the Dalton-Atlanta Campaign, losing a number of men in the battle on the 22nd of July at Atlanta. Having accompanied Gen'l John Bell Hood to Rome, the 2nd then fell on Sherman's rear and skirmished almost daily with some losses. The regiment tracked Sherman to Greensboro, NC, then escorted President Jefferson Davis to Georgia. At Forsyth, in that state, the regiment surrendered its arms, about 450 men.