Gary and others,

I read the narrative in the coffeecamp.org site and it filled in gaps in the life of Col. Coffee that I did not know while Coffee was in Missouri. The story mentioned that Coffee was reassigned to command a regiment after he was aquitted in the court-martial but it turned out to be just a "paper" appointment.

I assume the "paper regiment" was the 6th Missouri Cavalry regiment. Apparently the 6th Missouri Cavalry was never placed under Coffee's command in the field and Lt.Col. William H. Erwin remained in command of the 6th Missouri Cavalry, or sometimes referred to as the 12th Missouri Cavalry.

Also, I assume by the story that Col. Coffee was foraging and recruiting during the Battle of Newtonia since he was in command of a "paper" regiment at the time. That is why I see nothing written about Coffee being in that engagement although the bivouac six liles south of Newtonia was called Camp Coffee.

About 25 years ago, I had a copy of the John T. Coffee history that is in the coffeecamp.org SCV website. I loaned it to a neighbor across the street who was a participant in the Battle of Pilot Knob MO reinactment. He retired, moved back to Arkansas and did not return my book.