I may have been overanalyzing this thing. Realizing that "our army" might mean the doctors own unit, I see there was a William Reeves who went into the 1st Indiana Cavalry as a sergeant and came out as a 2nd lieutenant. Check out the history of the 1st Indiana Cav.--right there in SEMO at the right time. Anybody who has access to military files and pension files might take a gander. Pension file would probably provide the best info for comparison.