GEORGE - you are amazing. Wow. OMG! You all are so amazing at fact finding. I have been searching for months. I had almost given up. Really, so appreciative, even though the news is heartbreaking. OK … so,

The Service record you found listed him as being arrested in Houston, July, 1863 and deserted, Dec. 1, 1863.

Do you think he would have been hung later? (for desertion instead of cattle rustler as family lore tells).
Also, if he had deserted, why would he be listed on the Indigent list (with his 3 dependents) in Feb 12, 1864? I thought they did not help deserter’s families.

Any idea why he would have been arrested in the first place? And did, he, perhaps escape in Houston 5 months after his arrest?
Thanks for your time and response.

PS: How do you think others feel about family members that deserted? My heart goes out to him. I did not walk in his shoes. He must have made Corporal for some reason. I know I am naïve.

-By records, Thomas Cussen enlisted as a private, 1861, into Cpt. J. Hebert’s 55-man cavalry company, the "Jefferson County Mounted Rangers," at Beaumont and this unit only lasted 3 months.

-Then he re-enlisted into service on March 29, 1862, Beaumont, by Maj. Likens (Later Spaight’s 11th Bat).

-There are muster cards for 1862 listing him being in Co. E, Spaight’s 11th Bat.

- I read a muster card that listed him as rank in as Corporal and rank out as Private. No date.