I came home last night to a large over-sized envelope at my front door.  Was surprised to see it was from the National Archives.  Quicker than expected.  I spent my evening pouring over the vast amount of information contained within.  Inside were pension requests of both James and Esther (when widowed).   Next door neighbors were interviewed as well as former Army war buddies of James.  All in THEIR OWN HAND-WRITING complete with signatures. 

I will be posting soon to an updated Civil War page - word for word.  This is really good stuff.  I now know exactly what happened to James - how he was wounded and where.  I know who he berthed with as a Private.  And I know how he lived post-war. 

Still don't have a picture of James.  But the medical reports give a pretty thorough description of his post-war self.   And he still claims to be born in Scotland: father - William Pennington; mother - Ann Wallace.