Helen --

It's important to distinguish wartime information from post-war second and third-hand sources. When people age and are attempting to recall events from fifty years earlier, they get things wrong. The note about being a volunteer aide for Gladden is an example.

During the war Boykin claimed to have been a volunteer aide for General James Cantey, not General Gladden.

Boykin's service records include several applications for a staff commission. In one written at the end of 1863, he claims to have been a volunteer aide for General James Cantey. President Jefferson Davis wrote a note on his application asking if there is any opening for which he could qualify. Apparently the War Department's answer was no. It didn't help that General Maury, the commander of the District of Mobile, wrote a letter stating that he could not recommend James Boykin for a military commission. Maury said he wasn't suited for it.

There are letters from highly placed state politicians who endorsed his application. They mention the great personal sacrifices Boykin has made for the Confederate cause. If I can read correctly, one claim made in his behalf is that he sold a hundred slaves to raise money from the government. Evidently he did other things in the 1862-63 period as a civilian.

At the end of the war he claims to be a staff officer with the rank of captain. I don't see any evidence to support his claim.