I agree with George regarding your correct identity of this Union soldier of the 19th Missouri Infantry Regiment, in as far as there was no Confederate Missouri infantry or cavalry regiment numbered higher than 16th. Further, there was no Union cavalry regiment from Missouri higher than 16th, either, and certainly no cavalry regiments numbered as hight as the 19th. There were other types of Union Missouri units called the 19th, but these were of the types such as militia and the like that would not have served in Georgia. In other words, just by knowing this soldier was in a Missouri unit called the 19th ANYTHING serving in Georgia tells me he had to be in the Union 19th Missouri Infantry Regiment.

I checked with the State of Missouri "Annual Report of the Adjutant General of Missouri" for 1864 which bears me out, and Frederick Dyer's "A Compendium of the War of the Rebellion" on page 1330 clearly states that both the 19th and 20th Missouri Infantry "failed to complete organization" and therefore, any men mustered into those units had to be consolidated into other existing Missouri units. However, since the man in question was mustered into the 19th MO Inf I can see why somebody put that on his tombstone. Ironically, the only other unit, Union or Confederate, that bears the regimental identifier as Missouri 19th was the 19th Enrolled Missouri Militia Regiment of the St. Louis area, and it didn't complete organization, either. It does simplify the choices at our end, however, and makes identification of this man's unit all the easier.

This is an interesting problem, and I appreciate your zeal to ensure these peoples' remains are given proper identity as in which units they served. I wish you well with this worthy project.

Bruce Nichols