Ron --

Very few people have studied the home front or seem to know much about conditions at home, but it can be quite interesting. Before and during the war, county militia was used for law enforcement purposes, much like military police. In antebellum years militia patrols were designated to go out at night and search for slaves away from home without a pass, or 'disorderly' white people. During the war, the focus shifted to deserters and men seeking to avoid conscription.

By 1863-64, the woods and hills in most counties were full of these kind of men. They had to survive somehow, and that involved theft and raids on nearby farms. County militiamen were supposed to put a stop to this and arrest deserters and runaways, no easy task. Sometimes companies from the Conscript Bureau appeared to help the militia. Their job was made more difficult by citizens who provided aide and comfort to the deserters. Home front campaigns and battles rarely were documented and usually come down in the form of oral tradition.

Just to complicate matters, there are documented cases of deserters representing themselves as Confederate soldiers acting under lawful authority. This was possible to do in isolated counties or in areas between the lines, and we will never be able to account for soldiers home on leave or on parole who were hung or shot by them. And that's not taking into account the suspected deserters and civilian supporters who were also hung or shot.

We've all seen posts either questioning or disparaging Cold Mountain, and I may be the only one to post on this board calling it a dramatic portrayal of the Southern homefront. A little reading would demonstrate that the author employed historical characters in a historical setting.