Capt. Wilbourn is my wife’s great-grandfather. A publishing proposal for my manuscript (Perseverance: A Biography of Captain Richard Eggleston Wilbourn: Chief Signal Officer, Second Corps, Army of Northern Virginia) has been submitted and I am currently awaiting a response. William Eggleston Cunliffe was a detached private at the time of his death. In June 1862, Capt. Wilbourn’s two top sergeants were Daniel Perrine “D.P.” Bestor Jr., previously with Company D (Enterprise Tigers) of the 37th Mississippi Infantry Regiment and Robert A. Vermilion of Lynchburg, Virginia previously with the 11th Virginia Infantry Regiment. In December 1898, Bestor wrote to Jeb Hotchkiss the following, “Capt. Wilbourn’s signal corps consisted of Sergt. Vermillion [sic], Sergt. Bestor, Privates Bartlett, Benjamin T. and William Wynne [sic] (two brothers) Revd. Mr. Brown, Mr. Kuykendall, William Eggleston, William Cunliffe.” and “I can not give you the dates when these men joined the signal corps. I joined it in June 1862. Brown, Kuykendall, Eggleston and Cunliffe joined after I did, but the others mentioned were there when I reported to Capt. Wilbourne.” Cunliffe was detached and joined Wilbourn in early 1863 during winter camp at Moss Neck. Later J. L. Bartlett (from Texas?),William T. “Billy” Wynn (from Coffeeville, Mississippi) and Henry Clay Kuykendall (from Virginia) became sergeants. Wilbourn was childhood friends of the Wynn brothers. He and Billy were both attending the University of Virginia when the war began and they returned to join the Vicksburg Southrons with brother Ben. Billy's assistance to Wilbourn after the wounding of Gen. Jackson would help to propel him to the rank of sergeant. In 1865 Wilbourn was trying to get Billy to the rank of Lieutenant but the war ended before he got the commission. William Archer Eggleston of Amelia County Courthouse, Virginia was also a cousin to Wilbourn. I have no information on the Rev. Mr. Brown. This was Wilbourn’s core staff but he had many more detached men under his command during the war. Some of the names mentioned in his diary of 1865 are; Ed Browman, R.E. Cave, J.K. Gilbert, Henry Clewes, Stephen A. Dunnington (a deserter), Henry Gordon, W.S. Loper, C.C. Phillips, Jonathan Siron, J.M. Taylor, R.A. Vermillion (or Vermilion) as well as mentioning a Calhoun, Kleinpeter, Miller, Reuben, Rosenberger and Waddell. If you have any information on these men, let me know.