Duh..... Elkins was Sec of War when the OR was published. Big money big Republican machine politician, do we think maybe his war history got a little scrubbed along the way.... he obviously bolted to New Mexico before the war was over because he is practicing law in Santa Fe in 1864. Further he could not have been to far estranged from his father as Phillip Duncan Elkins has taken up residence with his son in the 1870 census and stays in the household until his death in 1897 in West Virginia. PD Elkins is in Atchison KS in early 1864 per the PM files. Right on the road to New Mexico from KC MO. The following entry is the earliest bio draft on Stephen B. I can find, written 1904. It is the only one that alludes to the move to New Mexico. Using the old adage info published closer to the time of event tends to be the most accurate I find it consistent with a man running from the war in Misssouri with mixed family loyalties. There are a large number of newspaper articles from 1884 on that mention him and his political machine. Lamberts 1955 biography by Pittsburgh University Press really is considered the definitive work on Elkins but was critically canned for the lack of reference notes to information gleaned from newspapers (over 40% apparently). The majority of the book is a discourse on his political activity starting in the 1870s with NM statehood efforts thru his time in the US Senate. The interview in the MO Centennial History appears to be the most complete about his Civil War in MO history I've found so far.

The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume III
1904

Ellerbe, William Haselden
page 416
Elkins, Stephen Benton, senator, was born in Perry county, Ohio, Sept. 26, 1841; son of Col. Philip Duncan and —— (Withers) Elkins. His father was born in Virginia; removed to Perry county, Ohio, in 1827 with his parents; served in the Florida war, 1836-37; removed to Westport, Jackson county, Mo., in 1844, and in 1861 joined the Confederate forces under Gen. Sterling Price, with his son John, a boy of sixteen, continuing in the service during the existence of the Confederacy. He died in 1897. Stephen's grandfather Elkins was a supporter of President Jefferson's plan of emancipation, and removed to Perry county, Ohio, where he purchased a large tract of land in the Hocking valley. Stephen was graduated at the University of Missouri in 1860, and at the outbreak of the civil [p.416] war enlisted in the Union army as captain in the 77th Missouri volunteers. He resigned in 1864, engaged as a cattle driver on the plains, and went to Albuquerque, N.M., where he took part in settling disputes among the ranchmen. He continued the study of law, was admitted to the bar, and settled in Santa Fé, where he obtained indictment against the Mexicans who held peons in bondage contrary to the laws of the United States, and his prosecution of these offenders resulted in breaking up this species of slavery in the territory. He is said to have secured the release of at least 10,000 peons, and the government rewards, added to his legal fees, he loaned at the prevailing rates of interest, and thus acquired wealth which he invested in mining property and ranches in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado. He was a representative in the legislature of the territory of New Mexico, 1866-67; attorney-general, 1868-69, and U.S. district attorney, 1870-72. He was a delegate to the 43d and 44th congresses, 1873-77, and while in congress made strenuous efforts to gain the territory admission to statehood. He made a notable speech on the resources of the territory and her treaty claims, but the bill for admission, as prepared in the house, was so amended in the senate as to fail to receive the concurrence of the house. In 1875 he married as his second wife, Hattie, daughter of Henry G. Davis, U.S. senator from West Virginia, and they made their home in New York city where he opened a business office. He sold large interests of his western property and reinvested in West Virginia coal lands. He founded the town of Elkins, W. Va., and with his father-in-law constructed a railroad to their property. He built at Elkins a palatial summer house and removed his family from New York city, making a winter home in Washington, D.C. He was a conspicuous member of the Republican national committee and took an active part in the presidential campaigns of 1884, 1888 and 1892. President Harrison made him secretary of war in his cabinet Dec. 17, 1891, and he served for the remainder of the administration. In February, 1894, the legislature of West Virginia elected him to the U.S. senate for the term ending, March 3, 1901, as successor to Johnson N. Camden, whose term was to expire March 3, 1895. In February, 1896, he announced himself as a candidate for the presidential nomination, and he was supported by the delegates from several states, but when the convention assembled he gave his support to William McKinley. In the senate he was chairman of the select committee on geological survey, and a member of the committees on civil service and retrenchment, commerce, interstate commerce, military affairs, railroads and territories.

John R