Attorneys on witness affidavit, "...from our intimate acquaintence with the Guardian and with the child and with the mother of said child and having heard the mother of said child relate the circumstances about details and from general rumor in the county about this case..." dated May 21, 1880.
Some of the details given in that affidavit (mostly by Serilda)....."James M. Cunningham was a private in Co. B, commanded by Capt. William Bragg, in the 24th regiment of Missouri volunteers commanded by Colonel S. H. Boyd in the war of 1861, and that said James M. Cunningham was killed at Finley Creek near or about the 16th day of August in the year A.D. 1861; that his death was caused by gunshot wound received from enemy; that mother of the child aforesaid remarried on the 23 (actually it was on the 25th) day of August A.D. 1868 and that the day of birth of his said ward are as follows: Arrena J. Cunningham was born December 29th 1860."
He further declares that the parents of his said ward were married in Webster County, MO on the 23 June in the year eighteen hundred and fifty nine by Robert Ross (P.O.) Ava, Mo.
The War Dept. could not locate any proof that James M. Cunningham was ever a soldier in the Army. They informed Gabriel that the claim would not be accepted unless he could locate proof. Dated Nov 14, 1887, the Bureau of Pensions sent Gabriel's attorneys an official rejection, noting the grounds that claimant's father was not in the U.S. serive as alleged and the neglect and apparent inability of claimant to furnish the correct service, and that the case was abandoned for over five years.
I do not know if any papers of proof were ever found or not for James M. Cunningham's service in the volunteer Army. I really have no doubt he was a volunteer soldier in Webster Co, MO, as claimed. I had wondered why Gabe hadn't tried to contact those who served with James and get some letters to vouch for his service, but then it dawned on me that I live in a time when I have a car, and I can buzz around all day, every day if I have to, going from town to town to take care of business. Hardly something a poor, country farmer who had six children, a wife, and a baby on the way to feed everyday could even think of taking off to do.