Thanks for the info. I am writing a novel about the Battle of Fort Pemberton and the Star of the West steamship (the target of the first shot of the Civil War and which lies scuttled in the Tallahatchie River at Fort Pemberton, here in Greenwood where I live). Being short on funds as well as time, I can't conceive traveling that distance to conduct research that might (or might not) reveal one soldier's name, since I don't necessarily have to have his name for the book (which is nearly finished, after my having spent over three years researching and writing it); but I will nevertheless continue corresponding with "folks in the know" on the internet who might, perchance, shed some light on this mystery. Additionally, the possibility exists that the victims (the fatality and the wounded) were soldiers from some other unit out of some other state, which would render any research in Louisiana a waste of time. If I could narrow down that particular facet of the story -- which unit they were in -- then I could probably determine the man's identity. For him to have been the victim, the explosion would have had to have occurred over the Whitworth rifle (which is what the Pointe Coupee artillerymen were manning at the fort), but I discovered a source that claims that the gun in question was the 6.4-inch, 32-pounder banded rifle...so go figure. Who knows? The mystery deepens...

Have a nice day.

Mark Adkins