Howard,

Thank you for your kind words. My interest is attempting to understand Col. Moonlight the man, not just his actions. Three years ago I had been given the possibility to study leadership at PhD level by a certain University in Dundee in return for continuing to work hard. This had been before I found out about this important ancestor. Since I discovered Moonlight, the two areas have somewhat combined. The offer of a PhD did not follow although the work (employment) had been done. In many ways, this experience seems somewhat similar to Col. Moonlight’s experiences and his position as “General”.

I have noted that popular officers in the Civil War have tended to be those that have been able to connect with the "ordinary" soldier in some form. One such form appears to have been sport. I have found some reference to Col. Moonlight introducing baseball, in some form to Kansas, shortly after the war (unable to see the article and only have a a two line summary, do not have the title with me, I think it is a Kansas Historical Society article and it is not an online version). In at least one point in time he was cheered on arrival at Fort Laramie and that seems to indicate some element of popularity with his soldiers.

I am carious why he defended the “small” man throughout his life and where this sense of meaning came from.

The original point of my research was in the study of a photograph of a street scene in Dundee. In carrying out the research I seem to have found myself in the “picture”.

Graham Duncan