Browse Items (32 total)

Several scholars have determined that western North Carolina men, like Sergeant Wyatt, deserted in larger numbers than their compatriots across the state did. Richard Reid’s 1981 study found a desertion rate of 16 percent for western North…

That the Confederate soldier has no superior in the annals of war is an article of the American Creed. His accomplishments against overwhelming odds, through four years of heroic suffering, are his monument. Magnificent in his forbearance and his…

At the Beginning of the Civil War, the Confederate States of America could hardly have foreseen the enormous problem that desertion in its army would have become. Amid the initial enthusiasm following the outbreak of the conflict, the rush of…

In this chapter from Social Science History, the author discusses the personal and political reasons for desertion in the Confederate Army of North Carolina. Giuffre's main thesis states that desertion was used as a form of resistance by small…

Discussions between governor Zeb Vance, Robert E. Lee, and Jefferson Davis on the impact that desertion made on the Confederate effort during the Civil War. This article points out that popular support for the Confederacy was never "robust" in the…

This document describes numerous situations that Western North Carolina Confederate soldiers were put through, which lead to their decision to desert from the army. Questions such as "Is my loyalty worth it if my family is starving?" and "What good…

Near Rapidan Station Va.
Sept. 28th 1863.
My Dear wife:
This will inform you that I am about well again, and I hope it may find you well. The weather is cold up here now, and we have frost plenty, and…

Vance’s Proclamation. The “Hideous Mark” to be fixed on Cowards and Traitors to the Confederacy. THE FRIENDS OF THE UNION TO BE MADE INFAMOUS Woe to the Men who Refuse to Fight for the South. THE FATHER OR THE BROTHER WHO HARBORS OR…

Lewis Bitting Banner was born in 1805 in Surry County, North Carolina. In 1856, Lewis B. Banner, his wife Nancy Meadow Flipping, and their seven children moved to Watauga County, North Carolina where their eighth child was born. He bought two…

"In place of open mutiny, [powerless groups] prefer desertion...They make use of implicit understandings and informal networks...When such stratagems are abandoned in favor of more quixotic action, it is usually a sign of great desperation." Scott…