Thank you Alan for your help. I went back and reread earlier posts and read about General Gladden. Gladden shows up in Mobile at the exact same time that James leaves his cavalry co. Take the timing plus two sources saying he was "promoted to staff" and the fact that coincidentally his aide Captain Scott ( James' wife is a Scott) pulls Gladden off his horse when he is mortally wounded gives me a sense that I need to focus on trying to prove that James is indeed with Gladden for the short period of time that Gladden was alive. This would account for his movements for the first half of 1862. How to I research this piece? Are there records about Gladdens staff and their "goings on?

I am heading to Mobile this summer to research the Boykin and McRae co. Connection