McRae's first cousin and Mississippi congressman John J. McRae wrote one of his letters of recommendation as did the entire delegations from Arkansas, Missouri and Mississippi. Arkansas Congressman Robert Johnson requested a memo from McRae's adjutant about McRae's activities in the war up to that point for his recommendation and Johnson himself later read McRae's name on the floor of Congress and it was approved.
I don't know what happened with Smith's recommendation for McCray but his didn't make it to Congress. McRae most certainly did not receive the promotion allegedly intended for McCray as McCray thought.