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The town of Pittsboro petitioned the Governor to protect them from deserters on March third, 1865. The petition claimed that one hundred deserters created 1,000 dollars in property damage. The petition was signed by twelve members of the community. …

Ashville Sunday Night
July 7th 1864

Dear Zeb,
[stille] some of those ladies who I saw in Raleigh on their mission for cotton cards. I come before you now on a begging trip if is to ask you should they be any good gray cloth on and for officers…

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…

"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…

My Dier wife and children I seete my self this morning with A Troub beled harte and a de strest Mind to try to rite a few lines to Let you no that I hierd my sentens Red yesterday and hit was very Bad I am very sory to let you no for I that you A…

My Dear Wife and Children I take the pleasure to drop you a few lines to let you now that I am well at this time hoping these lines may Reach your kind hands and find you injoying the same blessing I want you to Rite to me as soon as this comes to…

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…

"They hung my son by the limb of a tree"

Drawing of a Civil War deserter being hanged from a tree.

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…

You are aware, my friends, that I have given public notice that upon this occasion I would preach a funeral discourse upon the death of the twenty-two unfortunate, yet wicked and deluded men, whom you have witnessed hanged upon the gallows within a…