Members of the 5th USCC Listed as Missing in Action
After the Battle of Saltville (10/2/64)
and Still Unaccounted for in 1866*
(Presumed to Have Been Murdered By Confederate Troops)    

*In the appendix of his book, The Saltville Massacre, Thomas Mays' lists the names of just over one hundred men that were still listed as missing in action (MIA) on the 5th USCC's  muster rolls when the regiment was mustered out of service in 1866.  Mays did not identify which of these men were missing in action after the Battle of Saltville, though he was able to determine that forty-six of these men were missing following that fierce engagement.  On April 17, 1998, I reviewed the original muster rolls of the 5th USCC at the National Archives in Washington D.C. and was able to verify that the thirty-nine men from Mays' list, were missing after the Battle of Saltville. A subsequent visit to the National Archives and an examination of the Adjutant’s General’s Descriptive Records for the 5^th USCC by Phyllis Brown revealed the names of additional Saltville MIAs still listed as MIAs after the war. The descriptive records also confirmed the Saltville MIA status of many of the men included on Mays’ list. However, the descriptive record conflicted with the muster rolls in nine cases.

#These men were not included on Mays' list, but were listed as Saltville MIAs after the war in the Adjutant General's Descriptive Record for the 5^th USCC.

+ These men were listed on both Mays' list of 5^th USCC MIAs and the Adjutant General's Descriptive Records for the 5th USCC.  In many instances, the Adjutant General Descriptive Records confirmed the men were Saltville MIAs.  However, in nine cases men on Mays' list, listed as Saltville MIAs on the muster rolls, were listed at KIA, returned, or MIA from different battles in the descriptive record.