It eventually reached Nashville, where General Spears was assigned to command the 1st Brigade, of Brigadier General J. S Negley's 2nd Division. The brigade consisted of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 6th Tennessee Regiments, but General Spears made no mention of the 5th being engaged with the rest of the brigade in its operations on January 2 and 3, 1863, in the Stone's River Campaign. The regiment remained at Nashville until April 1863, and then was stationed for a while at Carthage. On June 8, 1863, the 3rd, 5th, and 6th East Tennessee Regiments were placed in the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, Reserve Corps, Department of the Cumberland. On June 30, the same regiments, under Colonel Cooper, of the 6th Tennessee, were reported as the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, XXIII Corps, Department of the Ohio; and on July 2, Major General A. E. Burnside, at Cincinnati, at the time of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan's raid, wrote: "I am anxiously awaiting reports from the 8th and 5th Tennessee Regiments." There seems to have been some mix-up as to assignments, for there is no other record of the regiment, or the brigade, having been in Kentucky at this time. On July 31, Colonel William B. Stokes was reported in command of the brigade, still in the Reserve Corps, Department of the Cumberland. The 5th was at Carthage, and a detachment under Captain Clingan was manning the artillery. On August 31, Brigadier General Spears assumed command of the brigade, with headquarters at Alexandria, Tennessee. On the same date, Major General Gordon Granger ordered Colonel Shelley to move his command to McMinnville. Colonel Shelley, at the time in temporary command of the 3rd and 6th Regiments, plus a detachment of Stokes' 5th Tennessee Cavalry, moved with these units to McMinnville, leaving the 5th Infantry, under Lieutenant Colonel McCaleb, at Carthage. General Spears, commanding the brigade, moved from McMinnville on September 13 towards Chattanooga, leaving two companies of the 5th Tennessee at Carthage. He arrived at Chattanooga on September 21, just after the battle of Chickamauga, September 19-20, and was directed to place his command at the bridge across Chattanooga Creek, to halt and reform the Federal troops streaming into Chattanooga. He placed Colonel Shelley, with his regiment, at the crossroads. on the point of Lookout Mountain on the south side. On the 22nd, three companies from the regiment were placed upon the river along the railroad, and the 6th Regiment, under Colonel Cooper, joined the remaining five companies of the 5th in line of battle at the crossroads. About noon, they were attacked by Confederate forces, and after an engagement of about an hour and a half, fell back to a more favorable position on the first bench of the point of the mountain. They remained here until early in the morning, September 24, when the whole brigade withdrew into Chattanooga.   On October 9, 1863, the brigade, under Brigadier General John S. Beatty, was transferred from the Reserve Corps to the XIV Corps, as the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division. However, on October 22, General Spears was back in command, and the brigade was reported as the 2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, XIV Corps. Headquarters of the brigade were at Sale Creek, and the brigade did duty along the Tennessee River between Chattanooga and Knoxville for the remainder of the year. On December 3, the regiment, with the brigade, was at Kingston, Tennessee; on December 6, at Loudon; on January 1, 1864, at Massengale House, near the Holston River, 30 miles northeast of Knoxville; on January 16 at Flat Creek Bridge. At this time, the 5th Tennessee was detached and ordered to Loudon, and Company "G". under Captain Clingan, was detached as artillery. On January 21, 1864, the brigade was transferred from the XIV to XXIII Corps, where it was reported as the 1st East Tennessee Brigade, 3rd Division. Orders were issued on February 1, 1864, that the 5th Tennessee be left at Loudon, to garrison the post. On April 10, 1864, the XXIII Corps was reorganized, and the 5th Tennessee was assigned to Brigadier General M. D. Manson's 2nd Brigade, of Brigadier General Jacob D. Cox's 3rd Division. On April 20, General Cox advised that the 5th Tennessee had not yet reported, and it was presumably still at Loudon, Tennessee. However, it did join the brigade in time for the start of the Atlanta Campaign, and took part in skirmishing at Buzzard Roost and Potato Hill on May 9, and was heavily engaged at Resaca, on May 14. In this engagement, the regiment, under Colonel Shelley, took part in a charge which captured the first line of the Confederate rifle pits, but at heavy loss. Colonel Shelley reported six officers wounded, 16 men killed, 92 wounded and 14 missing.   On June 5, the regiment was transferred to Brigadier General N. C. McLean's 3rd Brigade, of which brigade Colonel Byrd, 1st Tennessee Infantry, took command on June 17. Colonel Shelley resigned on July 22, and Major Bowers was in cominand of the regiment from that time until after the battle of Nashville. On August 11, 1864, in the field near Atlanta, the XXIII Corps was again reorganized, the 1st Division discontinued, and the regiment remained in the 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division. However, the regiment was reported at the time as detached at Marietta, Georgia. The regiment arrived at Nashville on November 15, and was sent to join Major General John M. Schofield at Pulaski. With Schofield, it left Pulaski November 22, withdrew through Columbia and Spring Hill, and arrived at Franklin on the morning of November 30, 1864. In the battle of Franklin, the 5th Regiment was in the second line of Colonel Casement's 2nd Brigade, in the center of the Federal lines, between the Columbia and Lewisburg Pikes. Major Bowers reported only six casualties.   In the battle of Nashville, December 15-16, 1864, the regiment was not engaged on the 15th; on the 16th, it was in line of battle on the Hillsboro Pike, and came under musketry fire, but did no serious fighting, and had only one man wounded. On December 31, Lieutenant Colonel Nathaniel Witt was in command of the regiment, still in the 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, XXIII Corps. With the division, it moved to North Carolina, arriving at Cape Fear February 8-9-10, 1865, and took part in the campaign which resulted in the occupation of Wilmington, on February 22, 1865. On March 5, the regiment was relieved from duty in North Carolina, and ordered to proceed to Nashville, to be mustered out of service. On April 30, still under Lieutenant Colonel Witt, it was reported unbrigaded at Nashville, and was mustered out June 30, 1865.