I heard about this site on the Association of Professional Genealogists List and I'm hoping someone can tell me if I'm on the right track searching for Benson Rees Plunkett. (Benson Rees Plunkett from Arkansas in the Confederate Army is not "my" Benson but rather his 1st cousin.) Benson from Georgia enlisted in the 2nd Regiment State Troops of Georgia 15 February 1862. About the middle of April 1862 he got measles while in camp in Savannah and died a few days later. His wife applied for, and received, a pension from 1891- 1900 when she died. The information about Benson comes from her pension applications in Fulton Co., Ga. There is no service record for Benson at F-N.com or in the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System or the Ga Archives Virtual Vault Civil War muster rolls, enlistment records, etc.

From the research I've done so far, these state troops enlisted for 6 months, and after conscription they were incorporated into Confederate Army units. The 2nd Regiment State Troops of Georgia apparently went into the 57th Infantry Regiment, which Colonel Barkuloo put together. The way I interpret all this is that Benson died before conscription (May 1862) so he was never in the Confederate Army and therefore doesn't appear on any Confederate service records. Am I going in the right direction? If so, I can probably find something about the state troops at the Ga Archives? Thanks for any help or direction you can offer.