In a July 8, 1864 note from R. M. Pike, by order of Brigadier General Edward Hatch, Colonel George Patterson is commanded to report for citizen train guard in Memphis. Attached to the note are two newspaper clippings related to Special Order No. 74, requiring prominent Memphis secessionists to ride trains from Memphis to LaGrange in order to curb attacks on the railroads by Confederate soldiers and guerrillas.

According to the newspaper clipping reprinting the order, "forty of the most prominent and bitter secessionists in and between Memphis and LaGrange [were to] be arrested, and that twenty of them each day be placed upon the cars in the most conspicuous positions - one being placed on each side of the engineer - and no train will be allowed to leave Memphis without a Secesh Guard until this murderous business is desisted from." The clipping also lists the other men who served guard duty with Patterson.