Books by Mark A. Weitz

Addresses the issues associated with Confederate desertion. This book examines the emotional and psychological reasons that might induce a soldier to desert. Just as loyalty to his fellow soldiers might influence a man to charge into a hail of lead, loyalty to his wife and family could also lead him to risk a firing squad in order to return home.

Coupled with problems such as speculation, food and clothing shortages, conscription, taxation, and a focus on the protection of local interests, desertion started as a military problem and spilled over into the civilian world. This book studies desertion in the Confederate army. It confronts a question: did desertion hurt the Confederacy?