Thanks, Brian. The letter cited in your source is one of many that reflect the disillusionment with secession and the Confederacy that grew larger as the war continued. Wartime letters and postwar memoirs written by former Confederate soldiers who switched sides often reflect that sentiment. There is no need to speculate or use psychic powers to discern their thoughts. Although I cannot discount the possibility that some men may have felt coerced into joining the U.S. service, I have yet to find a single verifiable instance of that in Arkansas.

Only one of the men who enlisted in the 5th Kansas Cavalry at Pine Bluff can be positively identified as a Jefferson County man. The others whose identity can be positively verified were, in fact, residents of Dallas, Bradley and Calhoun counties, including a father and son, some of whom were former Confederate soldiers, who had to travel through Confederate lines to Pine Bluff to enlist in the 5th Kansas Cavalry. These recruits were not brought in by roving Kansas shanghai gangs, but came in under their own power.