Chris, I do have A.W. Bessent listed at my biographical listings of Confederate Navy and Marine personnel (see link below), as follows:

A.W. Bessent (surname also shown as Bessant), served as private, company C, Confederate States Marine Corps; served aboard the ironclad ram CSS Virginia, Hampton Roads, Virginia, 1862, and on the Richmond station, Virginia, 1864; filed for a post war Confederate pension from Greene County, Georgia; his widow, Lucinda E. Bessent also later filed for a Confederate pension from the same county. [GA Pension Index 95; ORN 2, 1, 310 & 315.]

I assume you have already checked his pension files, available at the Georgia Archives. These may contain some additional data, but it would seem that he remained, throughout his service in the CSMC, at the Richmond area. His basic service data is shown in the Naval Official Records. Marines were not usually known to have served as carpenters, but were responsible for the disciplinary conduct on a vessel, e.g. guarding prisoners, assisting the officers in maintaining discipline, etc.

With your permission, and citing your name and other details, I would like to use the additional data for Bessent at my biographical listings, please.