His records state he died, not killed, at Bean's Station September 4, 1862. His regiment was at the time assigned to Col. T. H. Taylor's 5th Brigade in BGen. C. L. Stevenson's Division which had been operating in upper East Tennessee with Stevenson's headquarters at Bean's Station through July.

I suspect that Private Varnum had been hospitalized there and had been left behind when his unit was transferred north to Kentucky for the campaign that fall.

Aaron D. Varnum, Private, Company I, 46th Regiment Alabama Infantry, enlisted May 10, 1862 at Columbia for 3 years or the war, died at Bean's Station, Tenn. September 4, 1862, his widow, Ellender Vernon, filed claim for settlement of his accounts November 11, 1862, no other records

M311: Compiled Service Records of Confederate Soldiers Who Served in Organizations from the State of Alabama