I have spent part of the past ten years researching the 8th Arkansas and have followed their footsteps across both Shiloh and Chickamauga. The 7th Battalion was not at Shiloh, so his niece was wrong about him being wounded there. The 7th Battalion was left to guard Corinth, most likely due to the substandard nature of its arms. At Chickamauga, your great-grandfather was most likely wounded in the opening attack by the Arkansas Brigade which broke Scribner and Starkweather's brigades and captured Van Pelt's battery and advancing a half mile before being struck in the flank by Croxton's brigade and driven back. Govan states the retreat was in good order, Croxton claimed the brigade broke and ran. Although they were engaged later in the day in an attack that would have turned the Union right had Govan been able to find it in the dense undergrowth, most 8th casualties took place in the opening assault including the wounding of its colonel. Ironically, his wife's statement in the obituary "Theirs was the only line that held their ground in that great battle" refers to Turchin's flank attack on the afternoon of the 20th and resulted in the capture of perhaps 40-50 men (the 8th listed 62 missing), your grandfather having already been wounded. The Official Records are online and you can read Col. Kelly and Baucum's reports for Murfreesboro (Vol. XX, pp. 869-871) and Major Watkin's report from Chickamauga (Vol. XLII, pp. 267-269.) Also the Confederate Veteran magazine volumes VIII, XI, & XII contain articles written by J.M. Berry, orderly sergeant of Gibson's company. He would have known your great-grandfather. Captain Gibson's obit is also in C.V. Vol. XVI.