Major Ward is one elusive guy. To get a handle on him I have tried to look at every copy of the Lynchburg Republican or Lynchburg Daily Virginian that I can find for the June-August 1864 time frame. I have found no mention of Ward's Battalion or a unit of Confederate prisoners as part of the defenders of Lynchburg. The only possible reference I found was the one I cited: A report in the 3 August 1864 Lynchburg Republican(copy at UVa) that ten men deserted on Sunday night [31 July 1864] from the battalion of James R. Ward stationed at Lynchburg.