Thank you, Bryan. I have about decided that this John Smith's records are impossible to find. Too many John Smiths. He was mentioned again for his bravery in a letter from Laura Erwin Cox describing the flight from Little Rock: "Head, John Smith about 20 others came after me as they feared I had no way of getting out, knowing I was there. I will never forget such friends for they are true friends. Head is a great soldier. John Smith is highly complimented by the Reg. for his bravery. He makes a good soldier ..." I did find this later on in Mary A. Byers' diary: "John came home after Little Rock, fell got in a fracas with Henry Egner, and shot a man named Taylor, a cousin to Turpin, who was murdered so foully in prison by the Federals, and fled the country. At last accounts he was in St. Louis. The entry was dated March 1, 1864. In April, she says she had been to visit his mother, and thought of John as he was last summer, and "not as the murderer, an exile from his home."
So, I expect he deserted and fled when the incident occured.
Sue M.