Hello Tom, In my opinion it was not as risky as you may think. Let's take the battle of Gettysburg as an example. Because of the sheer numbers of Union soldiers at Gettysburg it should not unreasonable to state that some deserted and I'm not referring to the 2nd Regiment, Maine Infantry. Unfortunately history does not record how many Union desertions occurred at Gettysburg rather they are lumped together with casualties. While it's still subjective as to what the Union deserters were wearing when captured it is assumed that they were wearing civilian clothing. Deserters like anyone find themselves in a precarious situation and tend to bond together. From research at NARA in DC we know that some groups of deserters were in groups up to 16 following the battle of Gettysburg. When Union soldiers apprehended the deserters and the vast majority were Confederates they were ask what their names were and what units they had been a member of. Needless to say some lied about their names and units creating false CMSR's. These false CMSR's were copied by General Ainsworth and his staff beginning in 1903. When I say false CMSR's of course I am referring the Confederate CMSR's as only being Federal POW records, with no Confederate enrollment records or hospital or pay records. This is not to say that anyone with a false Confederate CMSR's were Union soldiers. Many times the Provost Marshal followed up on the soldiers in question but things were happening so fast following the days of Gettysburg that the Union soldiers were many times forced to take the word of the captured Confederates. Some Union deserters that I have found listed their Confederate units as being at the Vicksburg Campaign. How would have the Union deserters known that a particular Confederate unit was at the Vicksburg Campaign? I suspect they took the advice of other Confederate deserters and gained their information in that respect. Once arrested for being a Confederate deserter they were home free so to speak. No one in the prison is going to challenge them since no one from that particular Confederate unit was in prison at the time. Eastern Theatre verses Western Theatre type of scenario although this did not always hold true because of prison transfers etc. It is also possible that the Union deserters had heard about the newly formed Confederate units being organized at northern prisons by the Federal authorities. A Pennsylvania regiment who may have had a missing soldier at Gettysburg is not going to send down soldiers to look for their missing members at a northern prison. Many times the Union CMSR's do not report the desertions until months after the battle and by that time they had already enlisted in the Union Army. One galvanized Yankee that I have located who was a Union deserter joined the Federal Army and then deserted again to another Union Regiment and then deserted them and returned to his original Union regiment by virtue of Lincoln's Proclamation issued on March 11, 1865 and even received a Federal pension! Because he used a false name and used his alias on his pension records it was rather easy to find him.

Very few bounty jumpers were shot or deserters period, not that it did not happen. Let's take at former Confederates who joined the Union Army and then deserted. My research has indicated when they were apprehended and were not aiding the enemy when arrested their punishment included a reduction in ranks and paid a fine in other words just a slap on the hand. In all cases however they must have shown remorse for their desertion. This of course would depend upon their former conduct with the unit. If they deserted and then joined another Union regiment as some did then two charges were usually brought against them. One for desertion and another for joining a Union regiment and not being discharged form their original unit. Often if found guilty they were to serve several months at hard labor at a prison before being returned to their regiments. Many times it depended upon the severity of the desertion. For example if a deserter had tried to kill those Federal authorities arresting him then yes he likely might meet a firing squad. My research will be shown in a few months and I feel comfortable with the findings. Obviously I'm not disclosing everything at this time but once you read the research I believe even some members of the SUV will have to admit, yes there were Union deserters who went to northern prisons as Confederates and then joined Union regiments again and some even received Federal pensions. Hopefully an author will follow up on my research and find even more Union deserters posing as captured Confederates in the future.