George, It's been a while since I wrote the article. So it turned out to be the 42nd Tennessee and not the 43rd. The following is the rough draft.

Deserters
Galvanized at Fort Delaware &
Enrolled in the 3rd Maryland Cavalry
By Dennis Brooke©
According to the Confederate Compiled Military Service Records two soldiers with Company D 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry were captured during the Gettysburg Campaign and enlisted with the 3rd Maryland Cavalry while prisoners at Fort Delaware. The 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry was more than 1,000 miles away from Gettysburg defending Port Hudson, Louisiana. The rather remarkable story of how these two Confederate soldiers ended up at Fort Delaware borders on the amazing. Thanks to pension records found at the National Archives containing statements by David James Atkinson, the military records of their service in the 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry ties neatly together with their service in the 3rd Regiment, Maryland Cavalry.
David J. Atkinson and George W. Foster were more than just comrades. They had been neighbors in Tennessee prior to the war. According to Confederate muster rolls and Atkinson's post war pension statements, they enlisted on December 27, 1861 at Fort Pillow, Tennessee in Company K 4th Regiment, Confederate Infantry. Atkinson's name was listed as David J. Atkerson. This unit was also known as the 1st Regiment, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi Infantry. Atkinson and Foster were both taken prisoners at Island Number 10 on April 8, 1862 and taken to Camp Douglas near Chicago, Illinois. Paroled for exchange under the newly signed Dix-Hill Cartel, they were delivered to Confederate authorities at Vicksburg, Mississippi in September 1862.
The 4th Confederate Infantry was broken up. The original companies were reorganized in parole camp near Jackson, Mississippi. Four were transferred to the 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry and six to the 54th Regiment, Alabama Infantry. Old Company K became Company D, 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry on September 27, 1862 and both Atkinson and Foster were enrolled on that date for an additional two years service in compliance with the Confederate Conscription Act. The regiment was re-organized in parole camp, but the men were not declared exchanged and were not free to return to duty until November 10, 1862. Atkinson's name this time was reported as David J. Adkerson.
The Federal bureau of pensions asked Atkinson why his name had been misspelled in the Confederate muster records. Atkinson told them the orderly sergeant could not spell too well and spelled things as he heard them. David James Atkinson told the pension office that "my father and grandfather both spelled my last name as Atkinson" and he said "I was born on May 9, 1844 in Wayne County, Tennessee." Lawyers would advise clients not to volunteer any additional information while filing for their pensions. This may have been one reason why Atkinson did not mention Foster being with him. Both Foster and Atkinson have identical service records insofar as date and place of enlistment and capture.
The 42nd Regiment, Tennessee Infantry was on garrison duty at Port Hudson, Louisiana in early March 1863. While George W. Foster remained a private, David J. Atkinson had been promoted to 4th Corporal of Company D. In his Federal pension application, Atkinson said he had received a letter about a widow's death in Tennessee. {who was she i.e. how did this influence his decision to desert?} Confederate muster rolls reported that the two deserted on March 8, 1863. Atkinson’s post war remembrance was that he deserted on “March 7, or close to it”.
Port Hudson was located on the east side of the Mississippi River. Atkinson claimed that he had been appointed sergeant-of-the-guard while on picket duty and knew the signs and counter signs of the day. According to Atkinson "I just walked away." It is believed that Foster was with him. Atkinson did not mention the route he took but he may have taken the Old Natchez Trace Trail once in the area of Natchez. According to Atkinson he was arrested by the sheriff and his posse in Madison County, Mississippi and taken to the Provost Marshal in Canton, Mississippi. The sheriff of Madison County was William F. Taylor who served from April 1862 to October 1865. The distance between Port Hudson, Louisiana and Canton, Mississippi is about 175 miles. Averaging 10 miles per day, they could have reached Madison County about March 25th.
Atkinson told the sheriff that he was "a Union deserter and had been a crew member of the Esic". The U.S.S. Essex was one of the better known Union ironclads operating on the Mississippi River. Apparently the Confederate Provost Marshal at Canton believed his story and the two were sent to Jackson, Mississippi as Union prisoners of war.
Union prisoners at Jackson, Mississippi at this particular time period were known to have been held in one half of a covered bridge on the Pearl River. General Grant’s crossing of the Mississippi River on 30 APR 1863 and his subsequent march on Jackson forced the removal of any POWs being held there. The Federals did not occupy Knoxville and East Tennessee until September of 1863. It is possible that the Union prisoners being held at Jackson were transferred using the train route through east Tennessee and the Valley of Virginia to reach Richmond.
Atkinson next said "I was taken to Libby Prison, in Richmond, Virginia". According to the Richmond newspapers, there were a lot of Union enlisted soldiers at Libby in April and May 1863. Atkinson then told pension authorities "I was taken to Annapolis, Maryland (Camp Parole) and told Federal authorities that I was a Confederate deserter of the so-called Confederacy". He was confined at Fort McHenry on June 17, 1863 and forwarded to Fort Delaware where he was confined on July 12th.
Both Atkinson and Foster were erroneously reported as prisoners from the Gettysburg Campaign and correctly reported on a list of Confederate soldiers who were desirous of joining the Union Army at Fort Delaware dated August 30, 1863. Those accepted into the Union army were transferred to the 3rd Maryland Cavalry at Baltimore. Atkinson and Foster both told Union authorities they had been conscripted into the Confederate Army and had been born in Tennessee. David J. Atkinson and George W. Foster became Union volunteers on September 18, 1863 at Fort Delaware and both were mustered into U.S. government service with Company E, 3rd Maryland Cavalry in Baltimore, Maryland. Atkinson was mustered in on September 18, 1863 and Foster on September 21, 1863.
Atkinson reported his age at Union enlistment as 19 years of age and Foster reported his age as 21. Both told Union authorities they had been farmers prior to the war. Both would leave Maryland with Company E on the U.S. transport North Point bound for Louisiana on January 7, 1864 and arrived at Madisonville, Louisiana on January 18, 1864.
Foster deserted the 3rd Maryland Cavalry on July 26, 1864 at Carrollton, Louisiana near New Orleans and returned to the regiment on April 6, 1865 taking advantage of President Lincoln’s Proclamation 124 issued on March 11, 1865 offering amnesty to Union deserters. Atkinson and Foster were discharged from Federal service at Vicksburg, Mississippi on September 7, 1865 just a few dozen miles from where they had been held as Union deserters two years earlier at Jackson, Mississippi.
According to “letters of the 3rd Maryland Cavalry” The 3rd Maryland Cavalry left their horses at Fort Adams, Mississippi on August 27, 1865 about 30 miles south of Natchez, Mississippi and boarded a transport for Vicksburg. Atkinson and Foster probably found themselves covering old ground along the Natchez Trace Trail this time unimpeded by Confederate authorities on their journey home to Tennessee. David James Atkinson would die on August 17, 1928 while living with his son-in-law in Pocahontas, Tennessee located in Hardeman County. According to his death certificate he was buried at the Bethel Cemetery the following day.

{this needs a few words about their post war lives – where they lived – what they did and when and where they died. Did they get their Federal pensions?}
In a perfect world, a deserter or prisoner would be taken to the Provost Marshal and additional information would be extracted from him and noted before being sent off. The climate during Gettysburg and after was anything but perfect in regards of prisoners. There was widespread chaos and confusion in dealing with the prisoners. The clerks at Fort Delaware were over worked with no end in sight. Almost 9,000 prisoners would arrive at Fort Delaware alone in July after the Gettysburg Campaign. Many mistakes were made and it is amazing that the clerks managed to get most of them correct. With Atkinson and Foster however the clerks just listed them as captured at Gettysburg. It does not appear that the clerks were interested in any tales of desertion from Port Hudson, Louisiana as that meant additional writing and a lot of it and the lines of prisoners probably never seemed to end.