Thank you Hugh and Jim for your responses. I'll look through all my records over this weekend and try and get some kind of listing of the different places where I've seen my ancestor's name on a roster. His name was Benjamin Franklin Allein, but his surname has been frequently misspelled "Allen." Both Ben and his father, Thomas Allein, are shown on an 1850 census in Madison Parish, LA. They are also shown on an 1860 census in Madison Parish, LA listing a New Carthage post office. In one or both censuses, their surname is misspelled Allen. I fully completed an application to N.A.R.A., giving his full military unit info., his name, spouse info., where he lived, birth/death dates, etc., waiting 6 months and got N.A.R.A.'s reply that they had a file on him and I sent the $15.00, waited again, and finally a one-page sheet came back to me giving only his unit which is what I gave N.A.R.A. in the first place! I don't even know if N.A.R.A. was looking for Allein; they may have mis-read too and looked up an Allen for all I got back. Anyway, will check my various sources. I know at least one roster I found listed a Benjamin F. Allen in the 3rd LA and I think at the time I assumed it was my Ben Allein. Also, family lore from his daughter (my g.grandmother) says Ben's infant daughter Mamie died in Shreveport while she was enroute to Texas with Ben who was going to Texas to get supplies for the Confederate army. I still don't understand why he would have taken his small child along, if he was on army business, but my g.grandmother was sure of this story and repeated it often. There is conflict on the child's age, though. The Alleins were early settlers in Church Hill, MS and I don't know what made them go to Madison Parish (they are listed as Wood Cutters on the MP census) in 1850-1860 but after the war they returned to Church Hill MS where Ben died in 1898. He is buried there at Christ Church. I could not find any kind of pension on him. It appears they also owned some land in MP. I have found Ben on some rosters, but not on other rosters (with either spelling of the surname.) Will look more through my notes. Ben was born in 1827 in Maryland; his wife was Juliet Morton Wood Allein. Thanks, Peggy Dyas