Cyndi --

Most of the consolidations took place under a law that was passed near the war's end, so these are almost certainly different soldiers. Also, there are at least three men named Daniel Philips who belonged to Mississippi units and possibly more.

It's always best to start with your ancestor and specifics about him (age and residence during the war, where did he live afterwards) and then look for men by his name who enlisted in his home county. You can easily locate brothers and cousins that way, too! If a man enlisted and if you look in the most likely location, his records shouldn't be hard to find.

Don't get too bothered by exact spellings, either. Names were often spelled the way they sounded to a clerk. Also, when a clerk copied a name, he copied it the way the name looked a quick glance. Mistakes were made -- Daniel could become David, and Philips could become Phipps or even Pitts!