What you need to remember is that for many of the men it came down
to simply surviving. Not all desertions were actually desertions, poor record
keeping also entered in.
Had a ggg uncle who was listed as deserted at Little Rock, along with many
out of the 35th Arkansas. I am just sure he went home to his wife and
three little girls, to try and make a crop. That fall, he joined the Union forces.
I knew this and when I shared the desertion with his descendant, that was the last
time I ever heard from that person.
My own ancestor, James Thomas Harper is listed as deserting after Shiloh.
Of course he was wounded, for real, and walked with a limp for the rest of his
life.
Truth be told, it was not time to worry about appearances, but simply
a time to survive.