Bruce - this opens up other issues, of course - Dr Benson was kin to my great-grandfather John W Guthrey. He was living with him (JWAG) in 1850 in the HH of Daniel T Guthrey (JWG's father) - Growing up they were young boys & young men together. JWG was also captured at Blackwater/Milford in 1861 as part of Capt Ed Brown's Company (another distant cousn who was also shot by ?Union troops). He was held until 1862 when he signed his parole and released. He was in Saline Co in June 1863 where he married, then I have found him in Rock Island Prison records after his capture in Nov 1864 in Springfield MO where he is shown as "conscript" and on a roll "Prisoners on this roll Claim to have been Conscripted by Rebel Army". I have confirmation from someone who knew him and remembered that he had been at Rock Island. All this leads to the question(s), was he essentially in the same situation (except for Lawrence) as Dr Benson, having signed an oath (I have copy) and then serving in the CSA army again? Would the conscription have mitigated the service charge of breaking the oath? Or had times changed somewhat, the Confederacy was virtually on its last legs. He (and I would think others) would surely have been very vulnerable to charges by Union officials in Saline Co at almost any time. I have found no indication that he was a part of a guerrilla unit but think that surely he & perhaps his father would have been very sympathetic to them. After all his father DTG had help finance the first unit Dr Benson was in & was sued by the government for payment! It seems they walked a very tight line. I will be in DC later this month & try to get to the NARA, in the meantime I will search the LDS site and anything else I can find. Its almost like Alice "the more I know, the curiousier I get" and I am sure that is not the proper quote or maybe even source, but it does convey what I mean. Thank you so much for educating me. Brenda