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Imagine the stories he had... do you have any diaries or journals?

Alas, there are none. If there were they have been lost to Father Time. What our family knows come from the our Granny(who as a child sat in Andrew's lap, stroking his long, white beard and make the old man laugh and his bright blue eyes sparkle though the deep wrinkles) Most information came from the family Bible, the regiment muster rolls, a few government documents, the history of the regiment and the diaries and journals of other soldiers in his unit.

Being a (just barely) middle class farming family, his education was just enough to read and write to get by.

His brother Melville, however is mentioned in his commander's letters who took over the leadership of the 49th Tn Infantry that went south. His commander, Col William Young also was a close neighbor, friend and fellow church member and he sent letters back home to his wife and children. His letters, the ones that made it back home, told of what battles they were in, the area they were and who was killed, wounded or missing. Around the Battle of Atlanta, Melville, Col Young and another man were wounded and convelensing in a town called Washington, Georgia. My gr,gr,re. re uncle was shot in the foot and hand but the Col lost his arm. Interesting was the tone of the man. Despite the devastating wound, he was upbeat that he was doing well, that "he was hit with five balls but only only two have effect", "the ladies were treating them well"and he had money and a new suit and would be home as soon as the roads were clear. "To plant wheat and your one armed Pa would behome to make a living for my trust in God and children shall not want" He was proud to hear his sons had planted the crops and he would be home as soon as he could. Mel(my uncle and the other neighbor were wounded(Mel was shot in his foot) Information of my family is piecemeal but we're very grateful we fing anything at all. Many folks don't know anything about their family's past and, frankly don't care. I give all credit to our granny who got the start of our family history on paper and i and my youngest brother have added onto it through the years since Granny pasted on.

And, yer, it was the Battle of Hatcher’s Run in Virginia around in the Petersburg Campaign that he was shot and sent to Chimborazo to heal when Lee surrendered at Appomattox.

After healing enough. He and the few members of his regiment that remained, started walking home back to Tennessee. Granny said this was in part the railroads were destroyed and the ones that weren’t ruined were run by the Union army and her grandfather wasn’t about to ride in a boxcar with a bunch of smug Yankee soldiers. So they walked all the way back home! Somewhere outside Chattanooga in the woods, he stated he and his comrades said they took the Oath but he couldn’t name the unit he did with, the soldiers he was with or the officer that gave the oath. Since swearing allegiance to the Union was part of becoming a citizen, and more importantly to him, get a pension, the government didn’t believe him and he didn’t get a pension. We chuckled that the government official probably had a long line of rebels who gave the same vague story and didn’t believe them, either.