Generally speaking, deaths by disease outnumber deaths by other causes (incuding hostile action) by a ratio of five to one. Since this battalion was not involved in combat until 1863, you can be absolutely certain that the Truss death was due to disease (brain fever, as already mentioned).

Members of the "Saint Clair Grays" enlisted for twelve months in Confederate service on Mar. 1, 1862, Ashville, Ala. They quickly became Co. “G” of Blount’s 5th Alabama Battalion. Despite a petition protesting his order, General Bragg dissolved the battalion at Corinth, Miss., Apr. 28, 1862. Most officers were relieved of their commissions, the remainder being scattered among the enlisted men in companies of the 17th and 18th Alabama Regiments. Officers and men of Capt. Lloyd's Co. "G" merged with those of Co. “A” to form Co. “L”, 18th Alabama Regiment. The original command reorganized on Mar. 2, 1863, as Co. "G", 9th Alabama Battalion, finally becoming Co. “G”, 58th Alabama Regiment.

Captain Levi Lloyd appears on the 1860 census of St. Clair County as a physician, age 25.

Over the years, the story of Blount's Alabama Battalion has been told and retold several times on the Alabama message board.