Danny,
This might be a small clue. I have the military record of a soldier that came from Camp Douglas and was exchanged in Vicksburg. It states that he deserted on 29 December 1862 in Graves Port, MS. I cannot find that town on a map, so I have assumed it was in the vicinity of the Battle of Chickasaw Bayou. Perhaps it was elsewhere. Anyway, the soldier did not return to the 50th TN...no other military record. He was married in Jan. 1864 back in Dover, TN.
Joe