Ron: I had to run to Spartanburg this afternoon to retrieve my niece from college for the Thanksgiving holidays, and I left a little early to go by the Library at Greenville, to get copies of the CSR file for Bethea. Also, in looking last night, I found I had a copy of the Memory Rolls for Company C, what I footnote as SCV (South Carolina Volunteers).

Here is what I have. SCV is not of much help at all. All that it gives is "Bethea", "Private," resident of Marion District, and under remarks, "Captured in Tenn, and never heard from." It doesn't even give any initials.

CSR is more substantial. As IU mentioned, the rolls for the Legion, as for many Confederate units, have gaps, and the gaps include the Nov-Dec 63 roll, and the rolls for 1864 through Aug 64. He is not shown on the Mar-Apr 63 roll. However, the May-Jun 63 roll shows the following:
"R. C. Bethea; PVT, Co C, Infantry, Hampton Legion South Carolina Volunteers; Enlisted April 1, 1863; Columbia, S. C.; by Col. J. S. Preston; for the War; Present.

The Jul-Aug 63 roll gives the same information, stating that he had been last paid by Capt [William H.] Mauldin on June 30, 1863. The last roll is Sep-Oct 63, "dated Feb 15, 1864,", giving the same information, and stating that he was last paid by Capt Mauldin on 31 Aug 63.

On each of the muster rolls the initials are clearly "R. C."

To my knowledge, no Bethea or any other member of the Legion was captured or went missing in Tennessee after the engagement at Dandcridge on 17 Jan 64. The Legion received orders to convert to Mounted Infantry, and left its camps near Morristown and provceeded by the French Broad road to Asheville, thence over the mountains to Greenville, where it dispersed to the homes of the men to procure mounts. Bethea is not carried on theSep-Oct and Nov-Dec 64 rolls as either captured or missing or deserted. Ther eis no mention at all, which leads me to the conclusion that he had been transferred at some time prior to the beginning of September, 1864.

The only soruce that I do not have in front of me is Mary Belle Manning Bethea, Ancestral Guide to the Pee Dee. I have scoured that source and the census records to determine if some one other than Robert C. Bethea could be the man who served in the Legion. I can find none. R.C.B. is cited on p. 78 of that work, but does not give any military information, either for him or for the vast majority fo the others cited therein.

I will be delighted to send you the copies of the msuter rolls which I copied earlier today. They are on 8 1/2 by 17 paper, and are not capable of being scanned, but I'll be glad to send them to you by regular mail, if you'll send me your address. I will also make a copy fo the section of SCV that lists Bethea.

I find a good many erros in SCV (or the Memory Rolls, take your pick). Had he been caputred or deserted, he would have been shown as such on the subsequent rolls of the Legion, and he does not so appear, leading me to the inescapable conclusion that he was transferred. The Memory rolls were prepared at least twenty-five years after the war ended, and because Company C had been decimated early in the war, there were only a handful of men left to help prepare it. All of the officers of the company (except Henry L. Benbow, who transferred out in 1861) were dead by the time of the preparation of the memeory rolls, and only a handful of NCO's were still around.

I respect the information you have provided, but it is presently my belief that Robert Cochran Bethea of Mississippi is the man who served with Company C. If you have some additional information, particularly in the form of letters, diaries, etc., I certainly would like to have a look at them.
Lee