I looked into some of your questions today. It appears that Elisha Baxter more or less tried to take the Kentucky approach to the war and declared himself neutral. According to an article I read in the Independence County Chronicle, he hoped he could function as some sort of go between in this capacity. However when Curtis left Batesville, Baxter suddenly felt his life was in danger and went with Curtis.

The lack of trust by the Union officers seems to be attributed to the general lack of quality. In the OR Vol. XXII part 2 page 718, Lt. Col. T.G. Black of the 3rd MO had this to say concerning the 4th: "I find Mr. Baxter a worthy intelligent gentleman, but the squad of recruits a most complete nuisance, destitute of the faintest conception of correct principles".

The Confederacy didn't think much of them either. Jo Shelby refered to "the renegade Baxter's crew of Confederate deserters".

However we must be very careful of how we look at "deserters". Many of northern Arkansas' Confederate deserters were actually very principled men who felt when Van Dorn was ordered east and Arkansas was left undefended, they and Arkansas had been betrayed by the Confederacy and returned to take care of their homes. Many of these men promptly joined new Arkansas regiments (some, of course, were shanghaied by Hindman) and fought well for the duration of the war. Others feeling betrayed joined the Union forces.