Hello Rick, I agree with your latest conclusions. It is my opinion that Hiram McSwain was living in Covington County, Alabama in the 1860 United States census. He has the same family members if you account for some of the misspellings as living in Heard County, Georgia in the 1880 census and 1900 and 1910 and all report his birth around 1830. According to the Georgia Archives he did apply for a Confederate pension in 1894 and subsequent years. According to him he was a member of the 6th Alabama Cavalry and enlisted in April of 1862 however it appears to me and others that this unit was not formed until 1863. He went on to say that he surrendered in Atlanta in 1865 and had been born in Meriwether County, Georgia. He also stated that he moved to Heard County, Georgia in 1872. He also appears to have lived very close to the border of where the current boundaries are between Carroll County and Heard County.

Hiram McSwain now has a Confederate tombstone that said he was with Company E of the 26th Georgia Infantry. While there was an Alexander McSwain in this unit he appears to have been a galvanized Yankee while at Point Lookout and census records for him state he was born about 1843 and living in Blackshear, Georgia which was in Pierce County, Georgia. According to POW Records at ancestry (11336) he stated as a POW that he was from Pierce County, Georgia.

Hiram McSwain and Alexander McSwain in my opinion were two different men and living in two separate places according to the 1860 United States census.

Even though it said Alexander McSwain enlisted in the United States Army while at Point Lookout in February of 1864 I fail to find a declaration of recruitment record (DOR). There were many Confederates who said they would enlist in Federal ranks only to not have enlisted for various reasons. This along with changing their names for fear of being taken prisoners is also something to consider and makes it even harder to understand. From my experience they changed their surnames names slightly but usually kept their given names. Grant would not suspend the galvanized Yankees in fighting in the South until April of 1864 when the majority of them were sent West and their were exceptions like the 3rd Maryland Cavalry and 1st Connecticut Cavalry etc.

In some respects it is hard for me to understand how a man from Alabama age about 32 years could have evaded the Confederate Conscription Acts during the war. Yet Alabama does have a lot of missed soldiers within their State due to lost records etc. It seems as though he could have fallen through the cracks but his sworn statement for the pension also does not make sense as he could not have enlisted in the 6th Alabama Cavalry in April of 1862 unless I'm missing something here.

I do not believe Hiram McSwain was with company E of the 26th Georgia as his tombstone now states.