Thank you for your very quick and informative reply. The link you gave relates to confederate records can I assume that they will do the Union Side as well?

From reading your work I get the sense that recruitment was a centered on a localality and people that knew each other, enrolled together, then tended to stick together in the same unit. From the information you have given it would seem that John Simpson was a wild card thus harder to pursue. I never realised that there are so many Simpsons in TN.

I really appreciate your help.

Les Simpson