A. B. Clarke is thought to be Alfred Baxton (or Benjamin) Clarke, born in Lincoln County, North Carolina, probably January 23, 1827; however, he adjusted his age so many times that date of birth is uncertain. He worked as a shingle-maker and later a farmer in Paulding County, Georgia, and married Lucinda Lambert. In 1861 he enlisted at Griffin, Georgia, in the Bartow Artillery, 1st Company A, 60th Regiment. Georgia Infantry, and served with the company in Savannah, Georgia, when it was assigned to the 22nd Battalion Georgia Artillery as Company A in 1862. Alfred was elected 1st sergeant and later 1st lieutenant. On Jan. 28, 1863, he resigned from his post, "tending his resignation with view of accepting an appointment on board the steamership Rattlesnake." That steamship was destroyed February 28, 1863. However, later that year an A. B. Clarke was enumerated in the Paulding County militia as over 49 years old. That same man took the oath of allegiance and was registered to vote in District 1081 in 1867 and continued to live and farm in the same area until he was buried in the Old Harmony Grove cemetery.

H. Bechter also enlisted in Griffin, Georgia, on the same day in 1861, stating that he was 37 years old. He served in the same units as A. B. Clarke as 2nd sergeant. In May 1864 the 22nd Georgia Artillery stated that Lt. H. Bechter was reporting as an officer without a command. Again, "M. H. A. Bechter is 2nd lieutenant of Artillery, ordered to report to the 22nd Battn. They kept him employed." Since all of the other companies in the 60th Regiment were sent to Virginia, it appears that both Clarke and Bechter had avoided immediate combat. There is no further record of H. Bechter in the army after this date although he seems to have been confused with an American-born Hiram Beckham from Pike County, Georgia, who served in the 22nd Battalion. from 1863 - 1865. Herman Bechter was born in Prussia about 1823 and was naturalized as an American citizen in East Florida in 1857 where he worked as a music professor. From about 1864 until at least 1880 Herman continued to teach music in Forsyth, Georgia, where he lived with his wife Eliza from New York.