After considering the records further...comparing dates, etc., I conclude that there were two pairs of La. artillery soldiers with the same names. There is a Patrick and James (the name of the brother mentioned) Keegan/Gaughran/Goughran/Geagan/etc. in the Orleans Guard Artillery and a Patrick and James in Company G of the 1st La. Hvy. Arty. I had originally thought that these were all the same Patricks and James', but by the dates in the records, this is not possible. The Patrick in the Orleans Guards is the one from Strawbridge's 1st (with that unit on detail from Strawbridge's). There is also a James in the Orleans Guards.

If I can establish which of these Patricks (if either) was the one that ended up in Squires' Battn., and was paroled at the end of the war, then I should know that the other Patrick (and the James in the same unit) was the one which I am researching. My Patrick and James were in Butte, Montana when the war ended, sent there after having been paroled at Ft. Leavenworth.

I think that my biggest clue may be that the Patrick from Strawbridge's 1st (and detached to the Orleans Guard Battery) is noted by Booth as enlisting with the 32nd Indiana Inf. As I previously stated, the Union records do not show him in that unit, at all. However, Booth must have found something about this somewhere...probably in his compiled service record.

This is a very odd regiment for him to have joined, if indeed he did. It was a *German* regiment, and the Keegans/Geagans were Irish. Not only that, but sometime during this time period the members of the 32nd had been severely chastised by high ranking officers for certain perceived battle inadequacies (appear to be racist remarks made against the Germans solely based on their ethnicity). Resulting from this, many/most German regiments throughout the entire Union Army refused to "re-up" when their term of duty expired. Almost to a man, the German regiments dropped out of the war owing specifically to charges leveled at the 32nd Ind. Inf. Maybe there was an attempt to refill the ranks of the 32nd with galvinized Confederates?! But again, their is no service record for a Patrick Keegan (or any of the various spellings) with the 32nd.