Thanks for your note, Paul! I will be focusing on Ellis' career, though a study of pilots in general is certainly needed. I just heard from a fellow who has written a short article about them. I have the Southern Claims Commission files, though I have yet to give them a thorough going-over. His claim is one that was refused. While Ellis was a civilian pilot, he would ...um ..."confiscate" horses of the Confederates and sell them to Union forces. This helped support him and his family. In his claim, he asked for compensation for stock that he had confiscated and turned over to Stoneman's troops after he had become captain. It seems he didn't understand that once he himself had become government property, that "No Federal officer was ever permitted to sell for his own benefit property, army supplies, captured from the enemy."

Thanks again,

Allen