All that marching was pretty tough. I read that when their 12 month time was nearly up Humphrey marshall wanted them all to re-enlist but most asked if he would make it a cavalry unit and he would not, so they left. Some had a month or so left but left at same time as the early recruits.

I found out something else about some that were listed as "deserted" and they actually weren't. In my ggreatgrandfather's case he was captured at Middle Creek and a few days later when the did a roll call, he wasn't present so they wrote deserted. That was in January, 1862. He rejoined his unit (Co. K) toward the end of September and got out October, the same as the rest of the 12 month bunch who didn't re-up when they reorganized the 5th Ky Infantry.
I thought by some of Andrew's old deeds where an Estep was mentioned they were probably neighbors or close friends.