The only records kept of Confederate soldiers were those of the bi-monthly muster reports for pay, maintained by a man's company.

This record only showed date and place of enlistment, promotions, assignments, pay days, etc., deaths, desertions, transfers, discharge. The actual detail was left to the 1st (Orderly Sergeant) who maintained these records.

Unfortunately, a vast amount of these records were lost, a lot during the evacuation of Richmond. Thus, there are many holes in the records you will find.

The Compiled Service Records were organized during at the end of the 19th Century at the War Department in Washington, DC. Here hoards of Clerks assembled all the records that could be found, and compiled a record for each individual soldier, Confederate and Union.

We have identified your Robert Smith through his Louisiana regiment, there is no more data to be found on him in these records.

Many Southern soldier left their homes during Reconstruction heading West. My East Tenn. ggrandfather wound up in Western Arkansas.

I hope you follow up with a query to the CW Prisons Message Board.

Good Hunting,

George Martin
Sparks, NV

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Compiled Military Service Records (CMSR)

Each volunteer soldier has one Compiled Military Service Record (CMSR) for each regiment in which he served. An index is available online at the Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System website or on microfilm at selected NARA facilities and large genealogical research libraries. The CMSR contains basic information about the soldier's military career, and it is the first source the researcher should consult. The CMSR is an envelope (a jacket) containing one or more cards. These cards typically indicate that the soldier was present or absent during a certain period of time. Other cards may indicate the date of enlistment and discharge, amount of bounty paid him, and other information such as wounds received during battle or hospitalization for injury or illness. The soldier's place of birth may be indicated; if foreign born, only the country of birth is stated. The CMSR may contain an internal jacket for so-called "personal papers" of various kinds. These may include a copy of the soldier's enlistment paper, papers relating to his capture and release as a prisoner of war, or a statement that he had no personal property with him when he died. Note, however, that the CMSR rarely indicates battles in which a soldier fought; that information must be derived from other sources.

A CMSR is as complete as the surviving records of an individual soldier or his unit. The War Department compiled the CMSRs from the original muster rolls and other records some years after the war to permit more rapid and efficient checking of military and medical records in connection with claims for pensions and other veterans' benefits. The abstracts were so carefully prepared that it is rarely necessary to consult the original muster rolls and other records from which they were made. When the War Department created CMSRs at the turn of the century, information from company muster rolls, regimental returns, descriptive books, hospital rolls, and other records was copied verbatim onto cards. A separate card was prepared each time an individual name appeared on a document. These cards were all numbered on the back, and these numbers were entered onto the outside jacket containing the cards. The numbers on the jacket correspond with the numbers on the cards within the jacket. These numbers were used by the War Department only for control purposes while the CMSRs were being created; the numbers do not refer to other records regarding a veteran nor are they useful for reference purposes today.
http://www.archives.gov/genealogy/military/civil-war/index.html#confed