Found a copy of that article yesterday. It is unsigned as to author, but a typescript of the original manuscript from which that article is derived is in the Brent papers at Hill Library at LSU. That's not signed either, but I suspect it was written by his daughter or his wife. I don't doubt the accuracy of the statements, but it's certainly not anything official.

I really appreciate all the contributions to this thread. I am convinced Brent was a legitimate Confederate general, and I think that anyone who looks at the compiled evidence would have to agree. Andrew Booth says in his book that a huge amount of Confederate archival material was intentionally destroyed at Shreveport at the close of the war, and I suspect that any "proof" of Brent's generalship went up in flames at that time.