Thank you for a well-reasoned and factual note. You added a lot of interesting things that makes the tale or Mrs. Cleburne even weirder.

I am not going to spend a lot of time on it, but I will endeavor to ascertain which records the county has regarding the burial, and, if they have merit, I will pass them on to you. I do place confidence in the lady at the museum, who seemed to know right away that Cleburne's saddle was in the basement. The other two ladies told me that Mrs. Cleburne was buried there, but they didn't know where. The story seems fraught with inconsistencies. There certainly is a correct answer to this riddle, but who will ever know what it was, or is? Memories and records are mysterious things, are they not?

I have run into many situations like this, where records and accounts seem in direct contradiction to each other, as I am sure that you have. Sometimes I have been able to unravel them, and do some good for someone, but more often than not the mystery remains just that, in the end.
Here are two funny stories that are hard to believe, but true, regarding intellectual curiosity and, well, intellect.

My ranger guide at Gettysburg was an honest, amateur historian, very passionate about his work. I heard others asking inane questions of him, which he answered politely and gently. When the tour was finished, I joked with him about some of the questions, and wondered aloud about the most unexpected comment or question he ever received while giving a tour.

He laughed, and answered that one day a Doubting Thomas tourist sneered and shook his head, all during the tour, at almost every stop. At the end, the ranger asked the man if he had enjoyed the tour. "Lies, lies, its all lies! Everything you have said has been a lie! No battle ever took place here. I have examined every monument and every statue, very closely, and I haven't found one bullet mark yet!" I am inclined to think the ranger was joshing me.

When I related this story to another guide in another state, he said "I believe it. We were doing a living history presentation here two years ago, and some of the actors were cooking a meal over an open fire. One of the guests whispered to me .."Is that real fire?"

As far as Hebert goes, I respectfully disagree with your remark that he may not have known your relative or mine. He certainly did know many people in the regiment. He was a Colonel. This was a very personal war. People knew those with whom they were encamped, and with whom they faced the foe in battle. Every infantryman had a distinct place in the line of battle, at least before the first shot was fired. Each knew the man to his left and the man to his right. The prevailing view was fatality in that era, and many a man said that he didn't mind taking a bullet that was meant for him, but he didn't want to take one that was meant for someone else. You know this.

Many fellows in arms were from the same families, or towns. Some of these had enlisted together. They saw each other frequently, talked daily, and were in close quarters with each other almost continually. I have many letters from soldiers and their families, in which they mention others in the same regiment by name. They knew what happened to the others in the war, and related the circumstances in writing.

All that aside, I am glad to have met a person of your obvious quality, principle and mindset. I do not often bump into such a one.

If you find any mention of my kinsman in future finds, I will appreciate knowing it. I will do the same for you.

I failed to mention something important. Two of Josiah's grand daughters are still alive. They told me two years ago that he had stayed for an extended time with one of the other grand daughters before he died, and that he dictated all of his memories of the war. They cannot summon her name to memory now, and she has died anyway. I do not know the person who inherited her manuscript, or how to find it. Perhaps an heir gave it to someone in government or a museum. All the grand daughters knew was that she died in a nursing home in Florida. Wouldn't it be something if you or I could find that? We may find something about our relatives and the 8th!

My brother Pat told me last year that Dad had once talked about his Uncle Josiah's was memories. All that Pat can remember is that a little stream there was called Plum Run, "..because we plumb run!"

Some records show that he was wounded and captured on the second day, while others say that he was wounded and captured on the third day. I can find nothing beyond that, except that he was sent to Fortress Monroe as a POW and later exchanged. He was wounded again at the Wilderness.

Have you seen Salem Church on the Plank Road? It's still there. Our relatives saw it, didn't they?

May you have good fortune in all things.

Roger