I'm having two problems with this, but perhaps you can help me help you.

First, I found in the 1860 Missouri Census index compiled by the LDS church that David K. Noss is listed in the census that year on page 356 of Osage Township in east-central Miller County.

I obtained the online military service cards for David K. Noss from the Missouri Secretary of State's website at http://www.sos.mo.gov/archives/soldiers. The first card says he enlisted 22 June 1861 in Miller County into Captain Capps' Company H of the Osage Regiment of Home Guards (Union) and was mustered out of this unit 20 October 1861 as a corporal. I suspect in this case that the "Osage" referred to the Osage River which runs through this area and not Osage County which touches Miller County at its northeast corner. The second military service card for David K. Noss states that he enlisted as a private on 19 February 1862 at Rolla, Phelps County, at age 29 into Captain Rottaken's Company I of the 6th Missouri Cavalry Regiment (Union)[You said he was in Company D, 6th MO Cav]. The "Report of the Adjutant General for Missouri for the Year Ending December 31, 1865" on page 344 states that Captain H. H. Rottaken was indeed the commander of Company I. The only other remark on the card states that he "Died at Houston, Mo. in April 1862." The highest rank either of these two cards show for David is that of corporal, but that could have been an administrative error, which show up on these cards from time to time.

Frederick Dyer's landmark "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion," vol. 2 (of 3), page 1306 states that the 6th MO Cav was organized 16 February 1862 by consolidating three already existing independent cavalry battalions into one new cavalry regiment, but it doesn't say where this consolidation occurred. I wonder if that took place at the large Union base at Rolla, just a few miles southeast of where David was living. I surmise that your ancestor traveled to Rolla and signed up with the new regiment and was NOT part of the three battalions which combined to make up the 6th MO Cav. The 6th served for some weeks in south Missouri and in Arkansas, so that if he became sick, it is reasonable to assume that his unit could have sent him home to convalesce.

You said that David K. Noss moved in 1859 to "Houston, Richwoods Twp., Miller County." Richwoods Township is in southeast Miller County just south of Osage Township, where the 1860 census index said he lived. The two townships are adjoining, so I suppose that is not a problem.

One problem I am having is that Houston is the county seat of Texas County, MO two counties south of Miller County, and I have never encountered another Houston in Miller County. Not to say there was not a Houston in Miller County, but simply that I have never heard of one. There were several multiple place names in Missouri by the time of the Civil War-three or four villages named "Shanghai," for example. Is it possible that your ancestor actually died in Houston in Texas County?

Another problem here is that David K Noss' military service record says that he died in Houston, Missouri in April 1862. You said "he was granted a furlough to go home to Houston because of sickness and died suddenly on 3 August 1862." Where did you get this information and how sure of it are you? Sometimes I have encountered errors on such military service cards, so I am not sure which to believe. What does your source mean when it said he died "suddenly"? Can you resolve the discrepancy between one resource stating David died 3 August 1862 and another stating he died in April 1862?

Solving the riddle of which place and the date David K. Noss actually died is important in determining where he is probably buried.

What light can you shed on these questions?

Bruce Nichols