Bruce,

Well... one thing we have in common for sure is that the infamous Gen. Crabtree drives us nuts, huh? I haven't read all the threads, so please forgive me if I am repeating anything you already are aware of. I am still leaning toward L.P. Crabtree... on the same muster roll, appears the name of Jas. "Rovis"... note the spelling. On this particular muster roll, there are numerous mis-spellings, and the name "Rovis" doesn't appear anywhere else, my thought is maybe this should be "Revis" or "Reves" or something similar. Could this be the Capt. Revis? I do not see his name anywhere else again, leading one to speculate desertion. Also, there are numerous men in this unit that have the last name of Bond, although not John Bond, but they are clearly from either southern Cole County or northern Miller County - the Hickory Hill area where the two counties border one another. Although Wiley Shumate does not show up on either the 1860 Cole or Miller County Census, he (most likely along with L.P. Crabtree) were indeed from this same area. Here is a link to a pension application for Wiley Shumate in Texas, you will see that his brother indicates that he enrolled in Cole County, Missouri.

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txgrayso/military/CivilWar/CW_shumatewileyhuffaker.html

Again, I can only speculate of course, but L.P. Crabtree, the Bonds, the Shumates all appear to be from the same geographical area of Cole &/or Miller Counties, which as we know is where much of their actions took place, including the death of Crabtree. It would lead one to believe of course that they were quite familiar with the area in many respects. Furthermore, a man named "M.M. Basinger" also was a witness on Wiley Shumate's pension application and he to is from this area (Basinger is an old Cole County name). And guess what?... he too appears on the same muster roll as all rest of these chaps. Mr. Basinger is shown has having deserted.

I know I have seen something else somewhere about L.P. Crabtree, but I am still racking my brain to try to remember. Also, it was my grandparents (Milford and Anna May Maples) that purchased the home there in McGirk. Their daughter Betty was my dad's sister and passed away in her 50s having been a missionary for a short time but then going to nursing school at Southwest Baptist College at Bolivar, MO. She spent her entire career at Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and was actually one of the assisting nurses when little Lisa Marie Presley (Elvis' daughter) was born.

Let me know your thoughts!