Alan, I already have Canning's military record, and, after studying it thoroughly, I am convinced that he was most definitely not wounded at Shiloh, as he later claimed he had been. Nor had be been an aide directly to General Polk, although he did serve at Polk's headquarters, though in a vastly diminished capacity, as his records show. Canning also claimed that he had been an officer at Polk's headquarters, but it is clear that he was a private, and possibly remained at this rank for his entire army career. For someone who claimed to have received his serious wound (through one of his lungs, which rendered this organ useless) at Shiloh, he was still running around, on detached service with the Quartermaster's Department, etc., within a short time of the battle of Shiloh. That he did receive such a wound, through the lung, there is no doubt, as, when he was later to serve on the CSS SHENANDOAH, the surgeon of the vessel had examined him, and did note such a serious wound. However, no where in his army records is there any indication that he had received the wound while in service, so I feel that it was received after he had left the Army, perhaps in an altercation, or some other such action, but most definitely not in battle. Even in the letter he wrote to President Jefferson Davis, he remains totally silent on any battle wound.
A serious wound of that nature, if received in battle, or even while in military service, would have entailed months of treatment, at the hands of military surgeons, or at military facilities, yet he is found, at the very next mention of his activities, as being aboard a steamer heading from Havana to Southampton, about mid-1863. How he received this wound is a matter of conjecture, but it certainly was not in battle.