This is one of the things I was talking about regarding the patrols coming by. In my personal family Genealogy I have a great uncle Alexander Watts who 'enlisted' in company "G" 4th Arkansas Cavalry U.S. on Feb. 4. 1864. He lived in Jefferson County with his parents and was the eldest of 4 brothers. I can find no record of where he was enlisted in the Confederate army prior to this enlistment. A couple of questions arise.
1.) How did he avoid the Confederate Conscription officers for that long?
2.) Why did he enlist in the 4th Arkansas?
I can not find any reason, or record, to think that they were Unionist in their sentiments, since they had moved to Arkansas from Mississippi.
I can only surmize that he was one of the young boys let to help on the farm, since he was to young in 1863 to be conscripted. And since the parents were in their 50's. By February 1864 Jefferson County was under severe Union occupation in which the residents of Jefferson County were persecuted severely by Federal's at Pine Bluff if they showed any southern sentiments. Failing to support the federals was deamed as being sympathic to the southern cause and being a "Secech". There was no such thing as being "neutral", and that his enlistment was more a matter of necessity for his own self preservation and that of his family, than desire.
Southern deserters did seem to join the Union army if their homes were not under Union domination and control.