Hello Duncan,

The Desoto Parish historical society has an account writtten by a great-uncle of mine (a grandson of Stephen D. Lord) that says a group of Desoto recruits were called the Mansfield Rifles. That is all that I have found so far. I suppose they probably had a wealthy benefactor, as sometimes happened in the war, that may have provided rifles, uniforms, and possibly rail transportation to Monroe, but that is just a guess. It seems that somewhere would be the enlistment papers with the signatures of each soldier or at least on microfilm, but I haven't found anything yet.

Thanks again for your interest and help.

Clay Lord