You are both welcome, but I didn't do that much. The resources close to the events, as valuable as they are, still cannot re-create all the details of these skirmishes and battles for us.

Don, I share your disgust at what our ancestors felt forced to do. Most countries' civil wars are anything but civil, and that so much of the USA's Civil War was fought according to rules and values of the time is a tribute to great leaders on both sides and people who stuck to their values in the most trying of times. The study of that war is a lot like genealogy--the more you study it the better your chance to find things that bother you, particularly in Missouri.

James, I feel your best bet is to pursue this Lieutenant Bledsoe through the regular Confederate army sources and not through the guerrilla ones. As I expressed, and it's mostly guesswork on my part, LT Bledsoe wounded at Lawrence and killed by the Kansas pursuit was not part of the guerrilla structure and really a part of Colonel Holt's recruiting command. There are researchers reading this who specialize in the regular Confederate channels of Missouri, and I encourage them to put in their two cents on this. I think some of those folks hold the key to identifying this man for you. My specialty is the guerrilla side.

Bruce Nichols