Your friendly and informative e-mail exchanges prompt me to ask if you can also help me. A few years back while researching my roots in Kalamazoo, MI I found an entry in Virgil D. White's "INDEX TO WAR OF 1812 PENSIONS" the following listing: Barrett, Charles L. Old War IF-#12308, srv as Pvt.in Capt. Welsh's Co (Ord Dept) 4th US Inf Regt, sol srvd under the name John Lee. This Charles Lucius Barrett was my g g grnd fthr. NARA records show that his widow Abalina Jackson Gregory Barrett filed for a pension (2 July 1864). Later their daughter Sarah Barrett Snyder also filed. Both were denied but no reason given. A Roots Web member suggested I contact a local researcher which I did, a Eugene H. Black who came up with the same information I already had. Would it make sense for me to try to obtain the rosters of Capt. Welsh's company (Ordinance Dept) and or the 4th US Infantry ? Charles Lucius was born in France (near Belgium) in 1789 and may have come to this country as a French soldier. (His father, Joseph Barrette, my progenitor, was also in the French Army). Both sons, Charles and Henry Joseph stayed in the US rather than return to France. Charles Lucius may have deserted the French army or, as was common back then, may have been hired to take another's draftee's place. Any suggestions to further my research will be warmly appreciated. Don Barrett