Hi list, Wanted to share the news that a mystery has been solved regarding my 3g grandfather's Civil War service. Before I do that, though - Julia Linford, if you are on this list, please send me your new email address. Now for my story: Charles W. PATE was b 1830 in Washington Co., Illinois and d 31 Jan 1894 in Hagarville, Johnson Co., Arkansas. His tombstone (at Annie's Chapel Cemetery in Hagarville) says only C.W. PATE Co. G 2nd AR Cav. I assumed this to be a Confederate regiment, but after looking online, I determined that there was actually a volunteer Union regiment with this designation. However, the only PATE on the muster roll was a Wesley M. Pate. I searched and searched for some reference to my Charles W., then considered that Wesley may have been his middle name. After all, he had a grandson named named John Wesley Pate. Further examination revealed that Wesley was even born in the right county in Illinois. Then I looked pension application records, which indicated that Wesley W.'s widow (the initial was incorrect on the online rolls) "Nancy" had applied for his pension after his death. My Charles' fourth and last known wife was named Eliza. I spent a matter of time wondering about this and not knowing what to do about it, until a (possible) cousin's inquiry spurred me on (Thank you, Susan!). I gathered my courage and my credit card, and ordered "Wesley's" pension records from the National Archives. About two months later, I received an inch-thick pile of papers. Lo and behold, near the top of the stack was an affidavit by my Charles' daughter, Caroline (Pate) OWEN), in which she said the recruiting clerk had incorrectly recorded her father's name, writing Wesley W. instead of Charles W. More affadavits from neighbors said he went by C.W. or Wesley, and explained that his last wife, though always caled Eliza, was actually named Nancy AnnEliza. The pension papers also included his second wife's approximate death date, the divorce decree from his third marriage and his and Eliza's dates of death, as well as information on her first husband and her son from that marriage. Although it didn't give me any leads on his father's family (Lewis PATE b1791 TN), I did get more than I expected. So I guess the moral of the story is, when in doubt, go ahead and order the records. Chandra Dawson Martin