Following up on all your good ideas.
I followed up on your idea and spent several hours on the phone with my Aunt. I found out that the soldier's name, my great grandfather, was Lewis Fisher Levy. He joined Yerger's Regiment, Mississippi Cavalry and, in his first battle, near Yazoo city in 1863, his horse was shot from beneath him and he was captured. He was sent , first, to a prison in Ohio, probably Camp Chase, and was then transferred to the dreaded Camp Delaware, where he remained until the end to the war. I have sent for a copy of the paper which he signed stating that he would never rise up against the Union again. He was released to Virginia and then returned to New Orleans.
He applied for and was accepted into the Army of Tennessee, a Confederate Veterans group and is buried in their tomb in Metarie Cemetery, New Orleans. The buckle, as someone suggested, must have been purchased after her returned to New Orleans. He never carried his father's sword....And the reason that Albert Levy still had the sword after the Alamo was because he went off to join the Navy of Texas right before the Alamo. He served on the battleship Independence until Texas was liberated.
I have contacted Mr. Mulllinex about the buckle and will be sending him the pictures, etc. for identification. Thank you all so much for helping me. Now I am really fascinated by all this. And to think, it was there in that jar, forgotten all these years. Without you who helped, and this site, I might have ended up tossing it out in one of my spring cleanings. I had no idea it might have so much information attached.
Thank you again. I will post whatever information I get from Mr. Mullinex.