Dave,

The 1st Florida U.S. was a unique regiment in many ways. Although from time to time it fought as an organized force (at Marianna and during the Mobile campaign, for example), its men were more often used as hit and run squads to operate behind enemy lines.

Detachments from the 1st Florida routinely operated in Confederate-held territory in Northwest Florida, South Alabama and Southwest Georgia. Rarely were these units larger than squad size and they often skirmished with Confederate units and militia, as well as armed local citizens. Even so, they roamed freely through the region gathering intelligence, bringing in escape slaves and recruits and doing what damage to the local economy they could.

Quite a few men took advantage of these little raids and scouts to desert. They were pretty much roaming the woods under their own supervision and it was relatively easy for them to slip away. Others simply disappeared and often ended up swinging from the end of a rope. The local citizens rarely differentiated the men of the 1st Florida from the area raider gangs and, in many cases, they were one and the same.

Dale