To: P.F., Sandra, and A.C. re Richard poplar "Colored Confederate Soldier"

Interesting exchanges.Strikes me this is proof that some read with eyes wide open--some with eyes wide shut--and some need to turn that extra page.
I have done, or neglected to do, all of these--many times in my research.

My question re Mr. Poplar: is there a surviving muster roll of the l3th VA that establishes that this fellow was indeed a soldier (armed and paid as such)? Are there any extant personal records (letters, journals) to support this possibility?
Otherwise, as I follow these messages, we have an l886 item from a Petersburg, VA paper--an account that comes nearly twenty years after claim of service to the C.S.A. as a "soldier" (as opposed to a servant).

This may well be the only documentation available--and if so, the best that can be extracted from it is the POSSIBILITY--but not the FACT--of military service.
Journalists--and many historians-would call the Poplar tale a "man bites dog story"--meaning it is something of a reverse of the usual order of things--and thus, and fairly I think, calls for a high standard of proof/verificvation.
To exit: I am not insisting that Poplar did not serve--but I am asking for more solid evidence that he did.

Tom Phillips