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Conclusion

            As the above evidence sets forth, the environment that Western North Carolina Confederate soldiers had to withstand during the Civil War was horrendous. For soldiers to resort to abandoning their country and their states cause in this fight suggests that far too many off-putting factors had impacted Confederate men in such a manner so as desertion became the only outlet for escape. Grim living situations, uncertainties from the home front, and class divisions which led to favoritism among the eastern elite congregated together in the minds of Confederate soldiers in the mountain region to form thoughts of desperation. With each of these components, as well as the knowledge of what could potentially happen as a result of their actions, Confederate men in the West that deserted did so due to the fact that their situation set up abandonment to be an inevitable event.