Bonnie, have you learned anything new since last November? In my family research I've stumbled on a deserter that I hope I'm not related to! When I couldn't find any records before 1878 on my g-grandfather, Emilio Rodriguez, I started looking for anyone of that surname who came up from New Orleans to Illinois, figuring they might be related. I stumbled on Charles Rodrigues from New Orleans, who deserted in March of 1863 from the 14th Illinois Cavalry. His service record ends with the desertion; no discharge records or pension records exist for him. But a man of his name (slightly older) turns up in the Florence Stockade as a Union prisoner of war, and this man was persuaded to join Brooks' foreign battalion of "galvanized Southerners" in October 1864. Those members of the battalion who didn't mutiny or desert were returned to the Stockade after the Battle of Savannah, and there is no further record that I can find of a Charles Rodrigues/Rodrigos in that age group (b. around 1845) in the Eastern US. I don't know whether I'm related to him, but I can't help wondering what would have happened to those of the "galvanized Southerners" who were originally Union deserters, after they were paroled. If anyone knows the answer or a good source for finding it, I'd be really interested to know it.
Thanks,
Judi