I will relate the 2 incidents in as much detail as I can.
Incident 1: This is in relation to my gggg-grandfather John Thomas. His granddaughter told me this, as told by her father. She said that during the war (year unknown)soldiers came to the house, which would have been located in what is now the general area of northern Elmore/ southern Coosa county. Soldiers took John Thomas out to the woods and shot him. That is the story. There is no burial place that is known, nor what kind of soldiers. The son that told this story would have been about 5 at the time. The only thing I know for sure is that John Thomas did indeed vanish at this time. Now, there is a John Thomas from Buyckville that enlisted in the 46th alabama in 1862, was captured at Jonesboro , and later died at Camp Douglas. I don't know if this is my John Thomas. The place fits but the name is rather common. I can't help but wonder if what actually happened was that he was conscripted, there was an altercation out of sight and there was a gun fired but no one was hurt. To a 5-year-old that never saw his father again and didn't understand war, we might assume that he thought his father was killed in the woods.
Incident 2: This is a stry I found thta someone posted on a genealogy website but was in relation to my family but completely unrelated to the above story.This would have been in what was then Tallapoosa county but is now probably the area of Kowaliga in Elmore county. In this story Nipper Adams was shot in the leg by what were specifically called Union soldiers during a raid on his farm. He later died of the injury.This story was told by his daughter who witnessed it. This supposedly happened in 1862 which is that wrong date for any Union activity in that area.

I haven't really thought much about this until I found the second story. I can't prove nor disprove either but what got me to wondering is that both of these incidents happened in the same general area in the same general time. Barring Union soldiers, was there any other groups in the area? I haven't been able to find much information on Home Guard activity. Were groups that hunted conscripts or deserters known for violence in this area?