Two Flints, thank you for the information, after cleaning the dirt , old finish off of the butt stock I found initials J W scratched into the wood. in looking at the roster for company D I found one match, a James Welch from Illinois originally from Ireland. His age matches well he was 24 when mustered in and the information about him was pretty good. He was 5'5", brown hair, grey eyes, and a slender build and originally a sailor. He died in an asylum at age 50, no cause given. (my wife does genealogy and is really good on tracking things down.) So if you have person you want to know about just send me the name, dob if available and from where, the more details you have the better. She can find what there is to find. She has traced my family back to the early 1600s.