Another significant factor in the decision to switch sides was simply opportunity. Many people in Arkansas, even in the decidedly pro-secession southern part of the State, retained a degree of fondness for the old United States, but few were willing to travel through hundreds of miles of Confederate territory to reach Union territory for the purpose of enlisting in the U.S. Volunteers. However, when U.S. forces pushed the Confederates out of most of northern Arkansas, enlistments in the U.S. Volunteers began almost immediately, and in fairly large numbers, as the opportunity presented itself. When Union forces occupied Little Rock and began forays into southwest Arkansas, many men from Scott, Montgomery and Polk Counties (which hitherto had provided large numbers of men to the Confederate army) joined their ranks.