ms. mckinney was buried there. no one knew where. likely his wife had his tombstone inscribed with making and that's how her husband's grave site was located. after the story about the indexing appeared in a local newspaper, glenda todd, the first alabama cavalry historian telephoned peggy towns, the congressional aide. glinda then contacted the u.s. department of veterans affairs to order a marker for private amos mckinney, just as she had done for private simon west the year before. i was elated to be invited to participate in the ceremony. my publicist and i flew to huntsville, alabama, and there met mrs. donnie mckinney lester, the only living grandchild of amos mckinney. having moved many years ago to chicago, she had returned to her home area recently, never expecting to become the center of fascinating bit of civil war history. her grandpa's military service was been recognized after all of these years. even though she didn't have an inkling about it, the subject was not discussed in her family, a black man having served in th