After studying what you provided, the 1860 census for this family, and the various online military service records for Benjamin and Samuel D. McFarland in this region, I also conclude that I cannot match any of these seven or so military service records in home guard units, active duty Missouri cavalry regiments, active-duty Missouri State Militia (MSM) regiments, and two different inactive Enrolled Missouri Militia (EMM) regiments with your two men. I say that because in all cases I observed these other Benjamin and Samuel McFarlands enlisted or enrolled in these units at least one county away from Polk County and in some cases two counties away from Polk County. However, it is entirely possible that one or both of your McFarland men rode some distance from their home to enlist in one or two of these various Union outfits. They could have ridden miles from Polk County to join in order to avoid problems with southern neighbors at home and avoid recrimination against family members still at home. I cannot connect these men described in these military service records with your men of south-central Polk County without more information. This may have something to do with Samuel McFarland returning to Indiana after the war where the family lived for about 20 years before the war. As I said earlier, Polk County had a mixed population of southern sympathizers and northern sympathizers, which led to problems and several men being killed during the war. I regret that I could not help more than this, but I simply cannot connect the dots in this case.

Bruce Nichols