As Collier himself said, he wrote a story, not a history. His book is a great story, one of my favorites, but a story-writer can "punch up" the facts in a way that a historian cannot. In fact, the 3rd Arkansas Regiment had one of the lowest desertion rates of any Arkansas regiment. A cynic might surmise that they were too far from Arkansas to make desertion convenient, but distance didn't seem to curtail desertions in the regiments of the Army of Tennessee.

I believe the reason for a relatively small desertion rate in the 3rd Arkansas was due to its morale. After its initial teething pains in the fall and winter of 1861, when Stonewall Jackson sent them packing, the 3rd Arkansas was blessed with outstanding officers. Despite having virtually no military experience before the war, Colonel Manning and his regimental and company officers developed into exceptional combat leaders. In addition, the regiment was part of one of the best brigades in the entire army, not to mention being part of a celebrated division and corps -- all of which had excellent leadership. Elite units under inspired leadership tend to have good morale. And units with high morale have fewer problems with desertion.

All that being said, there is nothing to indicate that the fall of Little Rock had any appreciable effect on the 3rd Arkansas in the weeks following Chickamauga. Most of the men who disappeared from the rolls also disappeared from history. So it can be surmised that they died. As I said in a previous post, every so often a researcher will come across a cemetery record containing the name of one of those missing 3rd Arkansas boys, with the date of death in close proximity to the date of the battle -- obviously a man who died of wounds received at Chickamauga.