Rhonda,

According to Frederick Dyer's "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion," vol. 3, p. 1334, the 31st MO Infantry Regiment was organized in St. Louis, Carondelet, and Ironton between 11 August and 7 October 1862. Thereafter, this new regiment was sent to Cape Girardeau through December that year, and later left MO not to return. I conclude from this that Company C was stationed at the Moselle railroad Bridge while it was being organized so that must have been when PVT James Drenning drowned. The Union authorities kept troops guarding this and the other nearby railroad bridges throughout most of the war, so the other dead men could belong to any of several different units. It is true that the 31st and 32nd regiments were consolidated, but this occurred much later in 1864, and, therefore had nothing to do with PVT Drenning.

According to the "Official Records of the War of the Rebellion" published by the government in series 1, vol. 41, part 1, a southern arsonist in Confederate uniform attempted at the cost of his own life to burn the bridge on 7 December 1864, while it was guarded by a Kansas unit.

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