Mahlon,

I am not completely certain, but I believe the serviceman whose stone you found belonged to the 43rd regiment of Enrolled Missouri Militia, which was basically a home guard outfit. The 43rd EMM was mostly a Moniteau and Morgan County unit, and the closest of those to St. James, east Phelps County, is about two counties to the northwest. In fact, my meager records tell me that Company K of this regiment was of Morgan County. Normally, the EMM members lived and served in and very near their own home counties. However, it is possible the soldier whose gravestone you mention died in the upheaval during Confederate Major General Sterling Price's great raid in September and October, 1864.

About the only place you can find this man's record (since none but four of the EMM units were federalized)is at MO State Archives in Jeff City, provided his tombstone still shows his name. I can give you an address if you contact me privately at Mapmaker3@aol.com. I specialize in research on the EMM, since there is so little available on them to genealogy researchers.

Bruce Nichols