<P> Confederate policies generally were severe . For example, on August 19, 1862 General Stonewall Jackson approved the court - martial sentence of execution for three soldiers for desertion . He rejected pleas for clemency from the soldier's regimental commander . Jackson's goal was to maintain discipline in a volunteer army whose homes were under threat of enemy occupation . </P> <P> Historians have emphasized how soldiers from poor families deserted because they were urgently needed at home . Local pressures mounted as United States forces occupied more and more of the Confederacy, putting more and more families at risk . One Confederate officer at the time noted, "The deserters belong almost entirely to the poorest class of non slave - holders whose labor is indispensable to the daily support of their families" and that "When the father, husband or son is forced into the service, the suffering at home with them is inevitable . It is not in the nature of these men to remain quiet in the ranks under such circumstances ." </P> <P> Some soldiers also deserted from ideological motivations . A growing threat to the solidarity of the Confederacy was dissatisfaction in the Appalachian mountain districts caused by lingering unionism and a distrust of the slave power . Many of their soldiers deserted, returned home, and formed a military force that fought off regular army units trying to punish them . North Carolina lost 23% of its soldiers (24,122) to desertion . The state provided more soldiers per capita than any other Confederate state, and had more deserters as well . </P> <P> Young Mark Twain deserted long before he became a famous writer and lecturer, but he often commented upon the episode in comic fashion . Beneath his desertion from a Missouri State Guard unit was his deep unease about losing his personal honor, his fear of facing death as a soldier, and his rejection of a Southern identity as a professional author . </P>

Which state provided the most soldiers for the confederate army