I wanted to add that my great grandfather had just turned 18 when he enlisted. His father had died a year earlier in Virginia and he was the eldest son. I imagine he held out enlisting as long as he could to care for his widowed mother and younger brothers. He may have stayed till the end for lack of knowing what else to do. I'm very glad for the correction about the train. My family oral history has proven to be surprisingly accurate, but they could have misunderstood how he actually got from Mansfield to Alexandria. There's also the language problem. I don't know the original French the story was told in. Judy