I hope someone on this board can give me more insight into what motivated my 3rd great grandfather's actions in the Civil War. Moses Branum (spelled Braunaw in CSA records on Fold3) first enlisted with the 12th Arkansas Infantry in 1861. He is noted to have escaped at Island No. 10, and doesn't seem to show up in the CSA records again. I know some of the men who escaped joined other regiments but I can't find that Moses ever re-joined. I might have thought he died trying to get back home to Dallas Co. Arkansas except that he shows up enlisting with the 4th Arkansas Cavalry (USA) in April/May of 1864. He is quickly promoted (?) from private to commissary sgt. but only stays with the 4th a short time. His cards say he was transferred to the Missouri 2nd Light Artillery on May31/June 1, 1864 pursuant to General Order no. 112 (I can't find info on what this order contained). Then he is only with them a short time before he is listed as deserting sometime in June/August 1864 (the date given varies). After his desertion he completely disappears. I can no longer find him or his wife in any records. His two known sons show up in Illinois in the 1880's, but I cannot find Moses anywhere.
Can you provide any enlightenment into why he might have enlisted- and possibly deserted- from both sides? I know life was hard for family back home in Dallas Co. and wonder if that had anything to do with it. Was he always a Union sympathizer who was made to join the Conferdate Army? Or was it the other way around? Or was he just being expedient and going whichever way the wind blew? The last time I find Moses and his wife Sarah (Freeman) on a census is the 1860 census for Dallas Co. They are living with John Baldwin and his wife Martha (Freeman) and Branum is misspelled as Brawner. John Baldwin was also in the 12th Ark. Infantry with Moses but was captured at Island No. 10, he was later exchanged but is noted as deserting and being re-captured at Port Hudson! Interestingly, he and his wife filed pension documents later, despite the desertion. Moses doesn't seem to have filed for a pension. he just disappears after the summer of 1864.