Many thanks. The soldier, John W. Emerson, included this data on his Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States (MOLLUS) application. He died about 1899 and in all the biographies on him, this event is not mentioned. Believe, since it was a Union loss he omitted it. He states he was a volunteer aide on Nelson's Staff but I do not know how he got it. In the Post War, Emerson claims a friendship with General U. S. Grant and wrote extensively on him, some of which has been later disproven by the facts. A theory is that Grant enabled him to get this position of aide but in those days, a commission should have been just as easy to get for a non-military man as he. Bob