George Garmon
Alabama 26th-50th
Sun Feb 11 20:01:41 2001


About a year ago I corresponded with a gentleman by the name of Tod Molesworth at 26thalabama@ameritech.net re the Alabama 26th-50th. In one message he told me "The Regimental service files on the 26/50th were at least twice as complete as the 26th. For Shiloh it shows where each member was hit, by what and what time. For Murfreesboro it shows by what and where they were on the battlefield when they were wounded. There also is a lot of similar information for the Battle of Ezra Church. The 26th has nothing like that for any of the battles and the only way I find info is by hospital records mostly." In another message he said "I am a historian of the 26th (O'Neal's) even though I have a complete muster list compiled of the 26/50th. ***" When I asked him for some of this information, on March 29, 2000, he replied, in pertinent part: "I'll have to take a closer look at his file when I get the chance. The Shiloh files only shows the wounded and killed but not who participated. I have one book that says that there were 480 members of the 26/50th present at Shiloh. I have found over 130 that were killed or wounded. The Chickamauga records don't have as much detail as Shiloh or Ezra Church but it is more than the 26th. ***"
I never heard from Mr. Molesworth again after March 29, 2000, but IF someone is seriously considering writing a book about the 26th-50th, and IF Mr. Molesworth has the information he claimed to have, it might be worth the effort to contact him. In any event, if either of you gentlemen ever come across a good source of information on the 26th-50th, I'd sure like to hear about it.






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