<<< Major Hold of the 60th, and other soldiers came in to get their supper. >>>
This would be the 60th Virginia Infantry Regiment, that was indeed active in that area and had been encamped in the Meadow Bluff area. However I could find no "Major Hold" listed as affiliated with this particular Regiment, or any others in that region. Staff rank officers are usually fairly easy to reference and locate. The only other person of that rank usually affiliated with a Regimental level staff is the Surgeon (Senior ranking Doctor) Which is listed as Major Henry R. Noel. There was also a "Joseph W Brown" listed in the 60th Va Company-D. Also a "Joseph M Brown" listed as a Staff Captain (Assist Quartermaster)
"General Jenkins".. This would be Brig General Albert G Jenkins, who commanded a cavalry brigade by this time in Oct 1862 that was active there.
"Lunds Battalion"... There is no such battalion by that name I could locate. There was however a unit known as "Dunns Battalion" of Partisan Rangers (Independent Cavalry of sorts) That was offically known as the 37th Virginia Cavalry Battalion. These guys were operating in that area at the time.
"Stars from Richmond"... This would generally imply the rank insignia for someone of rank of a Major, Lieut Colonel or Colonel, depending on how may stars were used. These were gold bullion embrodiered stars worn on each side of the collar. Ordnance Sgts did not have this type of rank insignia. Ord Sgts wore chevrons of braided or worsten wool tape sewn directly upon the sleeves. These were not premade or issued as patches like somne of the Federal forces did. Pre-war and early war era Ord Sgts were part of the Ordnance Dept, not part of a regiment. Usually assigned to a post or permanant fortification or district. It wasnt until later in the war that they were approved and started to be a regimental level assigned rank and role. IF she had mention the Colonel that obtain these stars by name it would have greatly assisted this chase.
Since persons of staff or command rank of this type are generally rather easy to locate in the usual array of confederate records. But nothing can yet be found. The date range in late 1862... He home on furlough, and the stars just being placed on his uniform would give the impression of a new or recent appointment/commission. Since nothing else found it would again give impression and lean towards one of the state force organizations. The "Virginia State Line" and "Virginia Partisan Rangers" were newly appointed formation of Va state forces in Mid-Late 1862 for specific duty and operations in western Virginia. Intended to operate and in some cases even be formed in areas behind Federally occupied areas to try to help secure the area for the Confederacy. They worked predominately on their own independently. Unfortunately this independence of activity also attracted a fair number of outlaws and bandits to join in their mix, that proved to be counter-productive since some of them preyed on both military and civilians, North and South alike. Thus in mid 1863 they were officially disbanded and/or absorbed into other regular confederate forces.
This is a feasible possibility since it is implied he had rank of at least a Major, yet nothing found even close in any existing "confederate" records, which would usually be very easy with that level of rank. As I mentioned previously many of the "state" retained forces and their records were usually separate from other Confederate controlled units. Since most of these organizations were gone by the summer of 1863 their records turned in and were kept in Richmond. Also as mentioned majority of those records were destroyed in the Richmond fire so little is really known less the structure, regimental level commanders and company commanders names... and a few other sparce fragments... Over the years Ive encountered lots of misc data and items associated with these state organizations that also could not be further confirmed due to lack of surviving original records.
I found nothing in the records of the 7th Virginia Cavalry that would give any clue or found any record of anyone by name there or even close.
As mentioned previously interpretation of initials and bad handwritting frequently will give copy errors in the cards, but not always proof that its more than one mixed record. The most common interposed initials are W-M-N, J-T-F-I, S-L.
On a total side note I also found a Joshua Brown of Cincinatti Ohio in the 183rd Ohio Infantry Company-K (US) enlisting in Sept-Oct 1864.
Frederick