Hi Rob:

I checked the National Parks Service's online Index to the CMSR just now and found that there is a CMSR under the name of J. S. CUNNINGHAM who was a Private in Company D, 1st Tennessee Cavalry. Crute's did not have a history for this unit which I found puzzling. However, the NPS website has a roster of 816 names of men who were enrolled in this unit. You can check this listing for your other family members. I only found one "J. S. Cunningham" in Tennessee service after checking both Union and Confederate Tennessee regiments.

If we could find the "Rosetta Stone" of a unit history which would tell you which county Company D, 1st Tennessee Cavalry was primarily recruited from, you could search the 1860 Federal census records for that county. Civil War soldiers normally went off to fight with family, friends, and neighbors. You would stand a good chance of finding out what family group he belonged to this way.

This 1st Tennessee Cavalry apparently is not the same unit as Carter's 1st Tennessee Cavalry regiment for which there is a Crute's Unit History as well as a private website on line telling a good deal about the regiment's history. McNairy's 1st Battalion, Tennessee Cavalry was merged into Barteau's 22nd Tennessee Cavalry regiment in June 1862. I would urge you to visit with the webmaster of the Carter's 1st Tennessee Cavalry website and see what assistance he/she could give you.

You wrote: >>>I sent off to the National Archives for whatever info they had. They sent very little. There were only 2 cards.<<<

I assume that what you have got is the CMSR of Private J. S. Cunningham, Company D, 1st Tennessee Cavalry regiment. What do the two cards say (handwritten notes as well as any preprinted material at the bottom of the card)? Each card represents a muster roll on which the soldier's name was found and information extracted from it. If the NARA only sent you two cards, one is probably a summary or cover card. That means, they only found his name on a single muster roll. And if this was a Federal POW record of capture and transfer to Camp Morton, there will be no confirmation at all that he had a Confederate service record. The pre-printed material at the top of the card will tell you whether you are looking at a Federal POW card, or a Company Muster Roll card. If there is no Confederate Company Muster Roll record, then this likely represents some soldier who gave his Federal captives a false name, and you will never know who he was.

Camp Morton was a hot bed for the loyal Tennessee politicans trying to recruit Tennessee Union regiments, and failing that, to persuade captured Confederates to abandon the cause by taking the Oath and remaining north of the Ohio River until the end of the war. I recognize that this flies in the face of your family tradition about the three brothers meeting in Knoxville after General Johnston's surrender at Greensboro, North Carolina (April 26, 1865), but sometimes family oral traditions are created to hide unpleasant truths. I have researched the departure of the Confederates surrendered in North Carolina, and the only folks who got a train ride home from North Carolina were the sick, wounded and disabled.

I found Marcus Cook's name listed in the 1912 War Department "Register" buried in Green Lawn Cemetery (Camp Morton, Indianapolis) having died July 8, 1864. He is listed as a member of Company L (not Company D), 1st Tennessee Cavalry.

Hope all of this has been some help!

Hugh Simmons