Forrest Deserters

[Stiles/Akin]

 

[Rusk County Avengers]

That's one way to fight desertion. Seems a lot wiser than Stonewall's method of catch and shoot them all.

 

[Nathanb1]

Good post, @Stiles/Akin!

 

[Fairfield]

A less energetic experience:. In the summer of 1863 Lt. Abner Small (16th Maine Infantry) was sent back to Maine to do recruiting and to round up some deserters. He wrote in his diary: "Under orders I traveled down to Bath [a seacoast town] to find a homing deserter and arrest him. When I discovered where he lived, in a poor quarter of the city, I placed guards around the house and knocked for admittance. I'm afraid my knock was a feeble one, yet it brought to the door a woman, who turned pale as a corpse when she saw my uniform. She tried to shut the door. I prevented that, and asked for the man. She said he wasn't there, but I knew that the only truth in her words was that she loved him." Lt. Small did locate the deserter and did arrest him--but he concluded "I never performed a more disagreeable duty. I shouldn't have cared to repeat it for a ninety days' leave or a brigadier-general's commission".

 

[Reconstructed Rebel]

In the quote above my sympathies are with the local Confederate militia - It is March 1865 and they are truly between a rock and a hard place. For many civilians there is was not much difference between friend and foe.

Source:

https://www.loc.gov/resource/sn83045462/1865-04-01/ed-1/?sp=1&st=image&r=0.638,0.291,0.224,0.127,0