I believe that he would have been dropped from the rolls on the missing Mar & Apr., 1863 muster roll.
*** Believe he deserted at Graysport, about 10 miles East of Grenada on the river. This, I would believe to be the 20th, rather than the 29th of December.
R T. Buchanan, Private, Company B, 50th Tennessee Infantry, cards filed with Buchanon, R. T.
Rob T. Buchanon/Buchanan, age 20, Private, Captain George Stacker's Company,* enlisted September 19, 1861 at Fort Donelson by Lt. Col. McGavock for 2 years, captured at Ft. Donelson February 16,1862, prisoner of war at Camp Douglas, Illinois August & September, 1862, recorded present on the muster roll for the period Aug. 1 to Nov. 1, 1862, recorded on the July 31, 1862 to February 12, 1863 as having "Deserted 29 Dec. 1862 at Graves Port, Miss.", his name appears on a company muster roll** at Tilton, Ga., dated January 27, 1864 as "Deserted Gras Port, Miss. 20th*** [sic] Dec. 1862," no further records
* This company was known at various times as Captain Stacker's Company; and as Captain Pease's Company and Company B, 50th Regiment Tennessee Infantry.
The 50th Regiment Tennessee Infantry was organized December 25, 1861, some of the companies having previously served in a temporary battalion. The regiment was captured at Ft. Donelson, Tenn., February 16,1862; released at Vicksburg, Miss., September 20, 1862, and immediately re-organized; and declared exchanged at Aikens Landing, Va., November 10,1862. About November 10, 1862, it was temporarily consolidated, with the 1st (Colms') Battalion Tennessee Infantry, but each company of the two organized battalions was mustered separately and under its original designations during the period covered by this consolidation.
** This was a special roll to satisfy a requirement to submit to the Adjutant General's Office, Tenn., the name of each Volunteer who served in the regiment.
Company B Muster rolls for the period in question
July 31, 1862 to Feb..12, 1863 at Port Hudson, Louisiana [this would be the location at
the end of the reporting period]
Feb. 12 to Feb. 28, 1863 missing
Mar & Apr., 1863 missing
Man & June, 1863 at Vernon, Miss.
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Robert Buchanon, Private, Company A, 9th Regiment Tennessee Cavalry, recorded March 1, 1865 as an "absentee without leave," resident of Perry County, Tenn., "Supposed to be at home," no other record
M268: Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Tennessee.
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50th Tennessee
On December 24 [1862] Jefferson Davis and Gen. Joseph Johnston reviewed the troops [at Grenada, located there from Oct. 8], and the next day they were ordered to Vicksburg. Fought the enemy under Gen. Sherman on the 28th, and drove them back to their gun-boats. . . . . On January 5, 1863, the men were ordered to Port Hudson, Louisiana, and remained their four months." [Military Annals of Tennessee, Confederate, Vol. 2, John Berrien Lindsley, ed., p. 560]