I wish to add my congratulations on your finding your ancestor's ending. People, combatants or not, can be lost so easily in the chaos of war. It's always a victory to find that one lost sheep.

My wife's family always had the oral history passed down about the death of Confederate cousin George Cook at Little Black River in the Vicksburg campaign. He was so tired, he refused to heed the warning of another ancestor when a Yankee sharpshooter had his range and the bullet landed in the muddy trench beside him. The story goes that the second bullet found its mark because George wouldn't move. When my wife and I visited Vicksburg National Battlefield three years ago, a park ranger looked up George in his unit in a ready reference they had in the visitor center and told us George lingered mortally wounded a few days, died in a hospital in Vicksburg, and was buried in the town cemetery with hundreds of other Confederates. Those graves are not individually identified, but at least we know within an acre or two where George's remains lie, and he is in good company. We were thrilled to take that good news back to the family who never knew what became of George after that second bullet found him. It was a relief to put to rest unfinished business while at the same time confirming that old family story.

Bruce Nichols