BUREAU OF PENSIONS

                  BOARD OF REVIEW
                  I.C. 522561
                  Joseph L. Ray
                  Co. H 5th O. Vol. Cav.

                 I, Joseph L. Ray, Of Bosworth, Carroll County, Missouri, who first being duly sworn upon
                 oath states with relation to the  above claim as follows:   It is true I went to the war from
                North Carolina.  My father and my  brother and myself were for the Union, and I went to the
                front with the expectation of  fighting for the Union and with as strong a resolve as any soldier
                from the North.  That I gave aid, comfort and encouragement to the rebellion is not true.
                I was misled  when I was mustered into the Confederate cause as after events clearly show, for at
                my first opportunity towit at Yorktown, Va. on May 1st 1862, I deserted the Confederate  cause and
                returned home.
                It is also true that I was taken prisoner by Captain Wilson and carried back to the Confederate
               Army. I was court martialed for this desertion and sentenced to forfeit eight months wages.
               I was sent to the front in the Battle of Fredricksburg and there I did not fire a gun against
               the Union, instead I surrendered myself to the Union  Soldiers, was held prisoner for one day
               and one night and then allowed myself to be exchanged for some poor fellow who was starving
               in some Southern prison, obtaining his release in so doing.  While considering myself a prisoner
               in place of the Union man for whom I was exchanged.
               I was again pushed into the thickest of the fight at  Chancellorsville, Virginia. I did not raise my
               hand or fire a gun against the Union and after the battle ceased, and smoke had  cleared away,
               I got up from behind an oak tree where I was hiding and walked straight forward across
               the battlefield passing many wounded soldiers in Gray, begging for water, and who told me
               to go no farther for the Yankees were just ahead. Not heeding them I soon found a wounded
               federal soldier boy, wounded in the leg and begging for water and assistance to get off of
               the battlefield. Taking his gun which he still retained in his hand, I assisted him along to a
               pontoon bridge across a stream and to a spring of  water on the other side where I got
               him water. No one halted us on the way and the scene was so novel, the question could have
               been easily asked who was the prisoner, the boy in Blue or the boy in Gray.
               I left the boy near the spring and going north a short distance alone I came to the
               Federal prison pens. Looking among the prisoners, I saw one J. W. Higgins whom I knew.
               I asked permission of the guard to enter. He replied " If you enter you cannot get out".
               So entering I told Higgins of my intention of going North. He decided to go North also with me.
               So we were sent to Philadelphia, Pa., where I took the oath of allegiance to the  United States.
               I worked at various jobs for fair wages for some time and until I got a letter from  my home in
               North Carolina informing that all my brothers had gone North and that my father,
               then 60 years old, was a prisoner because of his Union sentiments and failure to support the
               Confederacy.  Then I thought it was my duty to join the fighting forces of the Union and
               help turn my father out of prison. I went West with the hope of finding my brothers and
               enlist with them, but failing to find them I enlisted at Cincinnati, Ohio,  and volunteered as
               the records show, Feb. 16. 1865.
               I have given here a brief statement of all actions and conduct of myself during the  Civil War.
               I make this Statement truthfully and frankly and unreservedly with the hope that I may be
               retained on the pension roll.  I can say I never fought nor aided the rebellion although
               I was a member of a Southern regiment for a while.
               I am now 69 years of age, and on account of my weakened physical condition, I am  unable to
               earn a living my manual labor. I also have a wife and five small children, the youngest 5
               months old, who are unable to make their own support. And finally I am very much interested
               in being retained on the roll and it will be a serious blow  if I am not.
               Thanking you for privilege of making this statement I subscribe myself as ever,

                        Joseph L. Ray
                        State of Missouri
                        County of Carroll

              Subscribed and sworn to before me this 26th day of May 1911.
              Lawrence H. Woodyard
              Notary Public
              My term expires July 22, 1911

              SOURCE: National Archives Pension File, Joseph L. Ray