I believe the application in the name of George Washington Bracey was originally prepared and typed by a local funeral director and completed in long hand by G. W. Bracey, who I would believe would have been George’s grandson.

The dates of service on the application could well have been obtained by assessing the records of the regiment realizing that this was ordered some 82 years after George’s death. Records show the regiment 4th MS organized: at Trenton, TN on 8/24/61 and mustered out 5/4/65 at Citronelle, AL. There are a number of men in the roster shown as:

_________ On 8/17/1861 he mustered into "E" Co. MS 4th Infantry
He was Surrendered on 5/4/1865 at Citronelle, AL

The War Department Clerk handling this application, could not find a soldier by this name, but did find a G. W. Bracy validating the given unit IDs

The application was approved with stone shipped from Columbus, Miss. on October 27, 1941.

I find it not difficult to understand older men who were drafted into the Confederate army against their wishes and who skipped out as soon as possible. He very well could have been a Unionist or against succession and the war. What is hard to understand is how he could have evaded the patrols searching for deserters, etc. for well over a year.