GB--Thank you so very much. If you send me your email I'd be happy to share the photos with you. I lost my father in 2008, but before he passed, he had them copied--I believe by someone who knew what they were doing. (He was the reason I became so interested in genealogy.) Dad had the pictures enlarged also, and I have the copies. (I'm an Illinois transplant in Arizona-I go home to Illinois to deal with my dad's estate and visit family.) I'd be glad to scan them in and send them to you. It would probably help you to help me be sure which one was which. For some reason, it's very important for to me to know. I've made contact with someone who lives about 30 minutes from Jackson, Mississippi and will visit at first opportunity. Maybe there's a place to leave cop[ies of their pictures with someone at the burial sites. My great, great grandmother,then great grandmother, then my grandfather, my dad, and then me own the pictures. I'd love to know more about the unusual hat with the ensignia in the middle--as you said probably state issued to Elijah James. If you'd like to send me your email, please do.

Also, on another subject, quite by fluke, I inherited many original Civil War Letters from a dear older friend who passed away. I have no idea how these people--if they are--were related to her or her family. She knew how much I was into history and genealogy, so I received the letters. They are both Confederate and Union--some soldiers, some children, mothers of soldiers and so forth. It appears some were writing across the lines to loved ones--civilians also. One Confederate Captain is clearly distraught about the situation and tells his wife to burn the letter immediately. Clearly she did not. Some of the letters are very fragile--others are not. I have only gotten as far as protecting each of them in acid free protectors and stored in an album, and trying to decipher some of them. Some are so very hard to figure out--with all the scrolls and so forth.(It would be terrific to share with the descendents of the writers.) Do you happen to know if there are Civil War buffs somewhere who would help me decipher? I have not tried to find a group here in Arizona. I'd like to share the contents with other history lovers--and it's the right thing to do--all of us share this history! I think Civil War historians and and others would appreciate the details in the letters. Any ideas whould be appreciated--this project would take untold hours alone.

Thanks Again,
Marsha