Apparently six veterans of the 13th are buried at Beauvoir, Confederate President Jefferson Davis’s last home on the Mississippi coast, owned and operated by the Mississippi SCV.

The six, according to the cemetery records here, are G.W. Agnew, James Benson, Thomas J. Reed, Alexander G. Ross, Joseph P. Sanders, and Gershun Shedd. Only the regiment name, their rank, and death date are there. (The tomb in the foreground photo is that of the Unknown Confederate Soldier.)

H. Grady Howell, Jr.’s muster roll has the following:

Agnew, George W., a private of Co. E (A), The Alamutcha Infantry of Lauderdale County;

Benson, James, a private of Co. K (H), The Pettus Guards, of Lauderdale County;

Reid (note different spelling) Thomas D., a private, 2nd Sgt., & Hospital Steward, of Co. F (G), The Lauderdale Zouaves, of Lauderdale County;

Ross, A.G., private & 4th Cpl, of Co. I (D), The Minutemen of Attala, of Attala County;

Has no Sanders, Joseph P.; and

Shedd, Gustavus (different first name), a musician & private, of Co. K (H), The Pettus Guards.

Jess N. McLean’s book has more:

Agnew was single, 21 and a farmer when he enlisted in 1861. He may have had a brother, William P., who was also in Co. E (A), The Alamutcha Infantry, and also a farmer, though age 24 when he enlisted;

Benson was 28, and an engineer/mechanic from North Carolina when he enlisted in Co. K (H) The Pettus Guards in 1861;

Reid was single, 20, and a druggist from Alabama when he mustered in Co. F (G) The Lauderdale Zouaves, in 1861;

Ross was 17 and a farmer when he was mustered in Co. I (D), The Minutemen of Attala, in 1861;

Sanders, Joseph Pearson, a private in Co. B (C), The Wayne Rifles, of Wayne County, & later Co. F (G), The Lauderdale Zouaves, of Lauderdale County. He was 34, single, and a farmer from Alabama when he enlisted in Wayne County in 1861; and

Shedd, but George P. (no Gustavus or Gershun), single, 24, and a mechanic from Alabama when he enlisted in Co. K (H) in Lauderdale County in 1861.

All of which is a good demonstration of the potential perils of cemetery bookkeeping, genealogy work, and “definitive” muster rolls. Also the differences between Howell’s work and McLean’s. In the latter, more expensive case, you get what you pay for.