Rose
The records suggest that your ancestor was continuosly at Montgomery White Sulphur Springs, but a possibility exists that he was assigned elsewhere and new injuries/disease or agrravation of an old disease/injury brought him back there. What is missing from the records found so far is the reason why your ancestor was allowed to stay at Montgomery White Sulphur Spings hospital and what he was doing there -- patient, or detailed there in some support capacity. In many cases of other soldiers' records I have seen, the reason for detachment from the unit and attachmnent to a hospital as a guard, ward attendant or other support personnel at the hospital begins with some kind of disability or injury that disqualifies the soldier from combat duty in the infantry, artillery or cavalry. We just don't know for certain what the reason was in the case of your ancestor. Sometimes one can find the special order issued that clarifies the reason for the assignment, as well as the duty the soldier was going to perform. Cards making reference to such specail orders are sometimes filed with the soldier's compiled service records or the unfiled slips that I referred to. I didn't find any such cards. That could mean one of several things, but primarliy the orders were not found, or the serach of available orders was incomplete by the clerks charged with reviewing existing records. Most of the available special orders, and the files are not necessarily complete, are only in hard copy at the National Archives. Reviewing those orders is time consuming and are scattered across different commands in the case of soldiers from the 50th Va, which served in several commands during the war -- Army of Northern Virginia, Adjutant and Inspetor General Office, and Army of Southewest Va and Tenn are just a few of the places that such an order for your ancestor might be found. I don't do that kind of research, but the National Archives web site might assist you in finding a local researcher here to make the search. Hourly rates for such searches vary among private researchers. It can be costly and may not turn up any new information.