Thank you to Greg for your ideas and thoughts. "J.M.F." was listed on the FIRST register of burials for Chattanooga Nat'l Cemetery that was published in 1866. "J.M.F." was listed under "miscellaneous" with others that were "incomplete." He was actually written in the register like this: F______, J.M. This suggests that his last name starting with the letter "F" was illegible. "J.M.F." was originally buried on the Chickamauga battlefield. My gg uncle, John Marsh Ferree, was buried on the Chickamauga battlefield as well.
***NOTE...I have a transcribed copy of my gg uncle's diary that he wrote while in the 59th OVI. The last day that he wrote an entry was about 2 weeks before his death on 19 Sept. 1863. The first page of his diary reads: Diary of J. M. Ferree.
To me, this is further circumstantial evidence that J.M.F. is my gg uncle!!! (He used his initials to identify the diary as his)
How did my family get his diary??? Someone (his brother George, who carried him off the battlefield, according to the obituary of a niece) retrieved his diary. IF a total stranger found J. M. F. buried on the battlefield, would the diary have found its way back to his sister (my gg grandmother...my grandfather...my mother...)? I doubt it!!! Also, IF a total stranger dis-intered J.M.F. on the battlefield, found his diary on him, wouldn't they have better identified him since his last name was on the first page of his diary? Renee