James Patterson was good friends with the Estep brothers. There were four of them that served initially with the 5th KY Inf. James and Henry P. Estep were very eager to enlist and travelled to a neighboring county in order to be first and were assigned to Co."A" 5th KY Inf. That was Oct. 21, 1861. Henry's other brothers, William W., Lilburn and Martin V. enlisted later at Camp Recovery (Salyersville), KY into Co. "K" on Dec. 14, 1861. On this same date, James was promoted to 2nd Lt. of Co. "K" and Henry P. transferred to that same company as well.
At some point, James and William W. were detached to act as home guards. They were very vigilant for their cause and when one of their fellow guards became disillusioned with the way things were going for the confederacy, he was shot in the back when he voiced his views and left. It is not determined who fired the shot, but this act did not sit well with the other home guards who set out to seek William and James. They encountered James and shot him, leaving him for dead. Only wounded, James was able to warn William who fled the area with his family.
William apparently returned to his unit. It was in the waning days of the war or shortly after, that William W. was returning home and was shot by a sniper. It is suspected that word of his return got around and it gave an opportunity to settle the score.
His brother Henry P. is another story. I am still trying to sort this one out. He was arrested for aiding the enemy and desertion and sentenced to be shot. That enemy was Capt. Blevins of Co. "K" 5th KY Inf. Apparently Henry enlisted as a Union soldier after his stint with the 5th and became "sick" while marching with his new unit and dropped out, returning home. At this time, confederate forces occupied the area and Henry spent 6 weeks visitiing his old pals with the 5th. After the 5th was forced out of the area, Henry returned home where he was arrested and later sentenced. His sentenced was later commuted and he was released from Federal prison in Dec. of 1865.
These brothers were my g-g grandpa's cousins.