Thanks, Alan for your additional thoughts. I (unfortunately, I guess) began this thread trying to find out how to contact Linda Green, which I have failed to do. I am researching the 14th Alabama Infantry Regiment and as you know, the 8th Alabama spent much of the war located near the 14th (In Winston's, Pryor's, and Wilcox's brigades). I have done quite a bit of reading and research about the 8th, for that reason. One piece of my research on the 14th includes copying the information I am interested in (from a military perspective) from every soldier's service record from the National Archives. As of this time, I have copied "A" through "R", and I am currently working on the "Ss". One detail that may contribute to your discussion is that I have noticed quite a few soldier records where he is reported AWOL or missing, when other records/sources indicate they were actually captured, dead, or in a hospital somewhere unknown. As you have so aptly stated, communications were quite different in the 1860s from what they are today. (And Confederate record keeping leaves a lot to be desired - especially after October 1863.) We may never know what actually happened when this man was reported AWOL, but we certainly know that many inaccuracies appear in soldier service records, for various reasons. I have not attributed any intentional maliciousness or vindictiveness to any reports I have read, but I try to consider them in the context of the time and the situations.