One more note about deserters.

After my earlier post I remembered that a librarian once told me that her ancestor deserted and wore a dress to avoid detection. Home Guards were used to seeing women out plowing and working in the fields. This man, a resident of Shelby County, avoided notice by Home Guard patrols by wearing his wife's clothing.

Obviously this story has been passed down, and it seems reasonable to suppose that people outside the family knew about it.