Although the soldier is identified in this document as "George Mills," he may in fact have been George Miles, a 29-year-old native of St. Mary's County, Maryland, who enlisted for three years' service in Company B, 38th United States Colored Troops (USCT) at Great Mills, Maryland, on February 14, 1864 during the American Civil War. (No service record for a George Mills could be found in the 38th USCT.) Miles appears to have been detached to service in the regiment's recruiting office in March, 1864; as assistant regimental teamster later that spring; with the acting regimental quartermaster in August; and as forage master that autumn. Beginning around January 1865, Miles was assigned to detached service in the 25th Army Corps headquarters. He appears to have remained in service at headquarters when the corps was transferred to duty in Texas, and he was mustered out with the company at Indianola, Texas, on January 25, 1867.

The 1870 federal census for Chesapeake (Elizabeth City County), Virginia, lists a 35-year-old day laborer named George Miles living with Joanna Miles, and two Miles children. The 1880 census shows George H. Miles, a 45-year-old coachman, living in Hampton (Elizabeth City County) with wife "Joana" and four Miles children. A register for the U. S. National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers at Hampton, Virginia, lists a 46-year-old coachman named George Miles among the home's patients. A veteran of Company B, 38th USCT, Miles suffered from rheumatism and was admitted to the hospital on Febrary 1, 1881. George Miles died at Hampton, Virginia, on December 29, 1902.

Records show that an Albert Burch was born in Maryland on September 2, 1809. He married Mary Amanda Turner, and the couple had nine children. Following his first wife's death, Burch married her cousin, Susanna Turner; they had five children. Albert Burch died on December 29, 1882, and was buried in All Saints Episcopal Church Cemetery in Oakley, St. Mary's County.