40th Infantry Regiment was formed during the early summer of 1862 after several attempts to organize a unit. Some of the men were from Attala County. It was active in the conflicts at Iuka and Corinth, then, assigned to J.C. Moore's and L. Hebert's Brigade, Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, was captured at Vicksburg in July, 1863. After being exchanged the regiment served in the Army of Tennessee under the command of Generals Baldwin and Featherston. It participated in the Atlanta Campaign, Hood's winter operations in Tennessee, and the North Carolina Campaign. Its casualties at Iuka were 10 killed, 39 wounded, and 21 missing of the 314 engaged, and during the siege at Vicksburg there were 12 killed and 38 wounded. The unit reported 10 killed, 57 wounded, and 27 missing at Peach Tree Creek, totalled 64 effectives in December, 1864, and surrendered on April 26, 1865. The field officers were Colonels Wallace B. Colbert and George P. Wallace, Lieutenant Colonels Josiah A.P. Campbell and James R. Childress, and Majors W.M. Gibbons and Enoch McDonald.
