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Exaggerated desertions were common according to Official Records of the Union
and Confederate Armies
The tendency
to exaggerate enemy desertions and casualties, while minimizing their own, was characteristic of Union and Confederate
armies in their respective reports of the many skirmishes and battles of the American Civil War. Each side was also eager
to enhance its own morale by writing favorable reports. It was propaganda and presently referred to as
Psychological Warfare (PSYWAR).
Confederate Brigadier General Thomas Jordan warned about such "exaggerations and rumors" in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series 1, Vol. 14, p. 754. President Jefferson Davis stated that the enemy strength (numbers) as stated by
scouts was also "generally exaggerated" (O.R., Series 1, Vol. 22, pt. 2, p. 1072). And General Butterfield stated there would be court-martials for "false,
exaggerated, or stampede reports" (O.R., 1, XXX, IV, p. 113). Deserters
were also defined as a class in resistance to conscription (O.R., Series 4, Vol. 2, p. 783).
To avoid confusion,
a total soldier count should be applied In lieu of percentages
In
1861 a typical regiment mustered approximately 1,100 soldiers. In late 1863, many regiments were reduced by as much as
70%: due to combat fatalities (killed-in-action), diseases, wounds, desertions, missing-in-action, enlistment expiration, and
soldiers captured by the enemy.
When
one declared that 23% deserted to the enemy is it referenced to the 23% of the 1,100 soldiers in 1861, or 23% of
the 330 soldiers recorded on the regimental rosters in late 1863? 23% from 1,100 soldiers = 253 desertions. Due to 70% attrition in
late 1863, subtract 70% from 1,100 soldiers = 330 soldiers in the regiment; 23% from 330 soldiers = 76 desertions. Some
authors and writers avoided statistical analysis, thus misleading the reader. To avoid said confusion, a total soldier
count should be applied In lieu of percentages.
When a soldier was wounded and later
returned to service, he may have transferred to another regiment or returned to service in the nearest regiment. When a soldier
was separated from his company during battle, after the engagement, he may have been assigned to the first regiment
he encountered. Some of these soldiers were declared deserters, when in fact they were currently serving in other units.
Early
in the Civil War, a captured soldier was paroled by signing a document which stated that he would “return to his
home and not bear arms.” However, when the paroled soldier refused to return to his regiment, he was counted as
a deserter.
In the latter stages
of the war, some Confederate commanders destroyed their regimental records. There was also impeded communication
with other units, chaos in the chain of command, and that allowed some commanders to write erroneous preliminary
reports of desertion.
For more information about
Union and Confederate desertions see: No Soap, No Pay, Diarrhea, Dysentery & Desertion: A Composite Diary
of the Last 16 Months of the Confederacy from 1864 to 1865.
Advance to:
Sources:
Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies;
Walter Clark, Histories of the Several Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina in the Great War 1861-1865; National Park
Service: American Civil War; Weymouth T. Jordan and Louis H. Manarin, North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865; D. H. Hill,
Confederate Military History Of North Carolina: North Carolina In The Civil War, 1861-1865; Library of Congress; North Carolina
Office of Archives and History; North Carolina Museum of History; State Library of North Carolina; National Archives
and Records Administration; Tennessee State Library and Archives; Vernon H. Crow, Storm in the Mountains: Thomas' Confederate
Legion of Cherokee Indians and Mountaineers; Christopher M. Watford, The Civil War in North Carolina: Soldiers' and Civilians'
Letters and Diaries, 1861-1865. Volume 2: The Mountains; William F. Fox, Regimental Losses in the American Civil War.
Recommended Reading: American Civil War Conscription and Desertion
American Civil War Desertions Union Confederate North South Rebel Yankee Desertion Deserter,
Statistics Facts, Infantry Regiment Battalion Mountain Mountaineer Highland Highlander Desertion Deserters
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