I am trying to locate an ancestor, James W. Kirtley, who was supposed to have been a Union soldier in Illinois. However, I've looked in all the available indexes, under all possible variations of his name, and I cannot find him. My grandmother told me the following story: James was a Confederate sympathizer who joined the Union army to spy on the Yankees. In December 1861, James's unit (I don't know what kind) was supposed to march through Cairo on Christmas day. His wife and daughter stood in the balcony of a hotel and watched the troops march by, but James did not appear. It turned out that he was dead, having swallowed poison upon discovery. Supposedly, he was buried on the grounds of the state mental hospital at Anna, Illinois. Now, I have serious doubts about this story. However, it does seem that if there's any kernel of truth in it, maybe the records of the military unit would reflect this incident. If nothing else, if I knew which units were in the Anna vicinity before Christmas 1861 and then marched through Cairo on Christmas day, I might be able to review the names of the soldiers. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance, Nina Scholtz