Greetings Bryce, thank for your interest in my family history endeavor. The only trace of the soldier who (according to my family’s oral history) accepted Pvt Fountain Cook’s dying request to return to his home and take care of his wife and family is derived from an 1870 Census of New Plymouth VA, which lists my grandfather, Fountain L. Cook, age 6, as a child in the household of William, age 27, and Anne Duling, age 29. (note spelling, Duling, not Dueing) As to whether or not William Duling was attached to the 55th VA is a matter of my own speculation and written accounts as it is pretty well accepted that by April 1, 1865, particularly following the Battle of Five Forks, what remained of various surviving Confederate units under Gen. R. Lee were combined and reorganized under shifting command authority, combined cavalry and infantry battalions, merged and assimilated moment by moment on a dynamic battlefield. Elements of the surviving 55th Virginia are recorded to have been present in the defense of Petersburg, assigned under Gen Ewell, then Gen Seth Barton, and finally under Gen Custus Lee. The regiment ceased to exist as an organized force after Saylers Creek, however about 22 men were able to escape and joined the rest of the army in retreat and surrendered later at Appomattox. (source, History of the VA 55th Infantry compiled by David Engel)

Thus far, my own research cannot confirm or deny whether William Duling was among the surviving 55th VA infantry in April 1865, or some perhaps some
other assimilated force. If you can provide additional information, I welcome your comments. Thanks, ~ Marcus Smith