I do a lot of Civil War research on my own ancestors. I have an uncle, who is a non-blood relative, who recently died. Shortly before his death, we were talking about my research, and he told me of his great grandfather John Short, who had received a Confederate pension.I have confirmed this is the John H. Short who filed the application from McClennan County. I am doing a history of his unit, the 16th Texas Infantry, for my cousins.

What got me to A.M. (or Alphonso M.) Short was that he signed as a witness on John H. Short's 1910 pension application. John states he enlisted in the 16th Texas Infantry, as I expected. However, he also stated that, in 1864, he was transferred to Captain J. E. Graves' company. Elsewhere, he states he first served in the infantry, than in the dismounted cavalry. As A.M. Short and another witness (the second witness was in the 16th Texas) both attested they served in the same company as John, I figured if I knew A.M.'s regiment it would give me John's second unit. I obtained A.M.'s 1899 application. John signed as a witness. The 1899 version of the application is not as informative as the 1910 version. A.M. states he enlisted in the 24th Texas cavalry, but there is no question to prompt him to say whether he ever went to another regiment.

It appears to me that the Alphonso M. Short in the 24th Cavalry and the A.M. Short in the 17th Consolidated are the same man.

I suspect John H. Short is the younger brother or cousin of A.M. Short. A.M. does not appear with John and his mother in the 1860 census, but given he was born in 1835, that is not unexpected. In the 1860 census, John did have brothers named Thomas (age 21) and James (?)(age 12).

As an interesting aside, the 1910 census shows that A.M. Short was residing in a Confederate veterans home in Austin. I found a listing of his tombstone online; it seems he is buried in the state cemetary, due to the fact he was a Confederate veteran. The tombstone states A.M. was in Company B of the 16th Texas Infantry, which was John's unit.