I have previously mentioned that I am engaged in compiling biographical information on all officers of the Army of Northern Virginia below the rank of brigadier general.

I've got about 2,000 pages of text at present, and hope to publish a CD-ROM about three years from now. At some point I'd like to pick someone's brains about American copyright issues. But in the meantime I thought I'd post some entries which I hope will be of general interest. Starting with:

ALLEN, Lawrence M. Born in c.1833. Resident of Madison Co., N.C. Musician, Co.B, 16th N.C. Inf.: 29th April 1861. Captain, Co.H, 2nd N.C. Inf. Bn.: 4th July 1861. Captured and exchanged by 27th August 1862. By January 1863 he had been appointed Colonel of the 64th N.C. Inf. Glenn Tucker:- "Allen was known to be fearless; many who did not admire him had confidence in his leadership if they reached the battlefield, though it was said he could put away a goodly amount of liquor." The official historian of the regiment wrote of him in 1901: "Colonel Allen was not an attractive man - rather otherwise". He was implicated in the killing of a number of North Carolinian Unionists at Laurel Creek in February 1863: "Colonel Allen was not in command - according to [one] account he had been suspended for six months for drunkenness - but he appeared and told the prisoners they would be taken to Tennessee for trial." Instead, they were shot. Allen was also alleged to have been engaged in a $20,000 recruiting fraud by "selling substitutes". His resignation was accepted on 3rd June 1864 - he having been in limbo since the killings, out of command and unassigned. In 1866 he was charged with murder by the grand jury of Madison County and fled to Arkansas, where he settled in Round Prairie Township. He worked as a farmer and teacher, and died on 11th December 1903 at his farm near Decatur, Ark. [Tucker, Zeb Vance: Champion of Personal Freedom, pp.306-308; civilwardata.com]