The Mexico Massacre and Battle are a secondary project, so I have just gathered items up that I have found and stuffed them in folders/boxes. I have the information in regard to the soldiers removed from the Old Mexico Cemetery via The Roll of Honor – Numbers XXVI-XXVII from the Quartermaster’s Department that lists the names of Civil War era soldiers that were reinterred at Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery. (I have a copy of those listings.) At best, it gives the Name, Rank, Company, Regiment, Date of Death, Section of Cemetery, Grave Number, Disinterment Number and Original Burial Location. At worst it just states UNKNOWN. Most have a hodgepodge of the above info.
The information was taken from the reburial records (which might be anything from almost nothing to a full description of what was found in each grave (depending on who was in charge of the reburials.) The reburial records that I have seen usually consist of a one page form that lists the soldier’s name (if possible.) This was determined by whether a readable headboard existed or if a citizen of the area could remember who was buried there (which leaves open a lot of misidentification). It also gives the exact location of the original burial in the cemetery and the reinterment location at Jefferson Barracks. The Company and Regiment were listed if known. They did absolutely no research into the service record of the soldier. They just wrote down what they could find out at the time of removal.
Along with the forms was a small hand-drawn map that showed the location of the graves in the original cemetery. The reburial records are available at NARA – I had a researcher look some up for other locations for me once. But it just so happened that I can across the map for the soldiers removed from the Old Mexico Cemetery at the Audrain County Historical Society at Mexico. I have a paper copy of it somewhere. (I can’t find it on my computer, so I must not have scanned it.) If I remember correctly, the map was tucked inside a binder they had in regard to information on the Old City Cemetery (Mexico).
The map really doesn’t give any proof to James Thomas as he is not listed and I have found no information in regard to him. Many of the UNKNOWNS from Mexico werere buried in mass graves at Jefferson Barracks. (10, 7, 2, 4, 5) I think that each mass grave holds all the soldiers from a specific Regiment that were reburied. So it is probable that James Thomas is in the mass grave of all the UNKNOWNS from the 1st MO Eng. (Whichever one that is.)
Once I get the Roll of Honor transcribed into the spreadsheet, (there are 7500 lines of information to transcribe and I’m only about ¼ done) I should be able figure out more by sorting by disinterment number and with the KNOWNS by the UNKNOWNS and with some death dates, I might be able to figure who some the UNKNOWNS are. (Of course, a lot of research would be required to find out which soldiers died at or around Mexico.) For the mass graves, I might be at least able to determine which Regiment soldiers are in which mass grave.
So as first stated, at this time I really do not think I can help you as I do not have specific info on James Thomas. Send me an email and I can give you a couple of possible places to further research to get some more tidbits. asbury_craig *AT* hotmail.com
Craig