I was on spring break last week and only read this thread for the first time today. In 1998, I authored a history of the 28th Texas Cavalry. The book is titled PECULIAR HONOR: A HISTORY OF THE 28TH TEXAS CAVALRY, 1862-1865. It details the unit's history during the war--the only battles that they fought in were Mansfield, Pleasant Hill, and Jenkins' Ferry that all occurred during the Red River campaign in 1864. Company E was primarily from Cherokee County in east Texas. In the process of researching, I tried to locate every soldier from the 28th in the 1860 U.S. census and in the Texas tax rolls. Unfortunately, Matthew (or Mathew) Hardie was one of the unit's mystery men. I could not locate him in the census or in the tax rolls. Furthermore, his service record was sketchy--although I have lost some of my research records, I don't recall hearing before that he ever served as an officer! This situation further illustrates the sketchy records of some Confederate units. I would be interested in seeing a photograph of Hardie's sword--please contact me at my email address if that would be something you can do.