This is an interesting thread. I have found many cases of desertion that occurred around planting and harvesting time, most of which returned to their regiment. Those serving in the Trans-Mississippi had an advantage over their counterparts east of the river, in that they were fighting almost in their own back yards, which made it a bit easier to “slip off’ and take care of business. I have also found many households under the care of 50 and 60-year old fathers of soldiers, and these “elders” were probably quite capable to turning a crop with the help of women and little ones. On the flip side, I have also come across incidents where these elders were murdered, which certainly didn’t help the home situation. As far as those who deserted and took the oath, a large percentage turned right around and joined a Union outfit, which kept the home front in the same situation as before. A study of the 1870 census records reveals many families as intact as they were in 1860, plus a few new arrivals. Sadly, those same records also reveal a large percentage of widows with children born between 1861 and 1866. The fact they were still around in 1870 attests to the fortitude of those folks. The degree of that fortitude grows when one reads accounts by returning soldiers after the war, in which the “wretched” condition of farms and women and children along the route comes to light. Many of those soldiers became more apprehensive with each returning step that their homes would be found in the same condition. .