James M Downard, my grandfather, from Washington County, MO, decided to enlist in the Union Army. He volunteered and was mustered into the First Missouri Artillery at Pilot Knob, Missouri, on January 9, 1862, at the age of 20. He was attached to the First Missouri Light Artillery and stayed with this same regiment during the entire three and one half years this bloody conflict was being fought. He was mustered out at Benton Barracks in St Louis in August 1865.
James's regiment, Battery A, was organized in St. Louis in January 1862, and the Regiment saw duty in southeast Missouri until March 1862. The Regiment then was engaged in campaigns in Arkansas, Shiloh, Vicksburg, and New Orleans and Algiers, LA. He belonged to the George Bryan Grand Army of the Republic Post 284 in Belgrade, MO and his granddaughter still has his GAR medal.

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