During the winter of 1862-63, Confederate troops, including the First Tennessee Partisan Rangers, attacked Federal troops in a series of skirmishes in southwest Tennessee. To deter further strikes, Union cavalry from Memphis, Jackson, and Fort Pillow prepared to converge on the Rangers, who temporarily disbanded and spread out over the countryside rather than face such a massive force. A Ranger detachment composed of Captain John Uriah Green, Captain James M. Barret, Corporal William Sanford, Dr. Christopher William Dickson, and John Thompson eluded Union patrols in northern Shelby County's Big Creek Bottom. On the night of April 8, Green and his comrades went to Anthony R. Barret's farm in the Barretville community to obtain provisions, where a Union regiment led by Fielding Hurst arrived and captured all of the Confederates except Thompson, who was guarding the horses. Before surrendering, Green hid a pistol in a mattress at the Barret home. Though Hurst was known for rancor and violence, he treated Green with kindness and consideration as a fellow Mason, and Anthony Barret's standing as a Mason is believed to have spared the Barret home and outbuildings from burning. The captured Confederates were taken to Bolivar and then to Irving Block Prison at Memphis; Dr. Dickson was released, but the others were moved to various detention facilities. While being transferred from Norfolk, Virginia, to Fort Delaware, Green escaped, passed through the Dismal Swamp, and returned to Southern lines. After he came home, Rebecca Hill Barret, Anthony's wife, had already delivered to Green's family the pistol he had hidden before Hurst and his troops withdrew.