<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type> <META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18876"> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>To any Civil War expert:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>How common would it have been for a man in his mid to late 60s to have served in a Union Cavalry unit during the Civil War?  I am editing an 1839 letter for publication trying to ID the individuals mentioned.  It's from a wife to her husband.  I traced the couple on the census up to 1860 in Steuben Co., Indiana.  Then, I found a man by the same name serving in an Indiana Cavalry unit and dying in the South in 1865.  No mention of his age, but he enlisted in Steuben Co.  Problem is, this guy would have been nearly 70.  I thought perhaps the soldier was someone from a younger generation, a nephew or son, but I'm not finding anyone else by that name.  Plus, there is a pension file that lists a widow with the same first name as the wife.  I don't have the actual pension record, so I don't know if her maiden name matches.  But the names are unusual enough that it would be too much of a coincidence.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Many thanks.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Judy Riffel</DIV> <DIV>Baton Rouge</DIV></BODY></HTML>