Alfred wrote from a Richmond, Virginia, prisoner of war jail, while Aaron wrote from the 99th OVI camp near Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Alfred later died of chronic diarrhea in Danville, Virginia, still a prisoner of war. Aaron was killed in action at Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia, a part of General Sherman’s general advance on Atlanta. Alfred’s body, probably buried in the flood plain of the Dan River, cannot be located. Aaron’s rests in Marietta National Military Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia.

Their cousin, John Swander, whose name is also carved in stone as a "Fallen Hero," died February 3, 1863, in the U.S. General Hospital in Covington, Kentucky, soon after he was wounded at the Battle of Stone River. His body was returned to Pearl Cemetery. The palpable bitterness felt by local citizens over the deaths of John and other local youths in the war is displayed in this Sidney Journal article (Feb. 6, 1862): "We have learned that another victim of this Slaveholder’s war has been brought home. JOHN SWANDER, who was wounded in the battle of Murfreesboro, and was brought thence to Covington, Ky. We have been informed mortification ensued from the wound, and death has been the result. The father of this brave young soldier went down on Monday morning for the purpose of ministering to the wants of his son and if possible bringing him home. Little did he anticipate that he would return with him a corpse. He was the only son, the father’s pride, the cherished object of a mother’s love, but he has offered his young life on the alter of his country’s liberties, peace to his ashes! cherished be his memory! The stricken parents have our most heartfelt sympathy. God help them."