While researching William H. Norton, a member of the 50th Ill. Inf. Regt and thanks to Wicipedia and other sources, I have gleened the following:

The 50th (or the West Kent) Regiment of Foot of the British army was established 18 Dec 1755. The 50th went to Egypt in 1799 where they suffered badly with opthalmia while there, earning the nickname the Blind Half-Hundred. After Egypt, for which they received their first battle honour, they sailed to Malta and then to Ireland.

The opthalmia suffered is often called granular conjunctivitis or Egyptian ophthalmia, it is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the world. Globally, about 40 million people have an active infection and as many as 8 million people are visually impaired as a result of this disease. It belongs to a group of diseases known as neglected tropical diseases.

The question that remains is whether a member of the 50th Ill had some connection to the British West Kent Regiment or was just knowledgable about that unit.

William H. Norton has a special relationship with Columbus, Montana and I welcome additional info. His family imigrated from England.