Greg, I totally understand that there were a lot of circumstances which often led to a soldier being listed as a deserter. My ancestor is listed on both the 1850 and 1860 censuses as Wiley Davis (no middle initial). in 1860, Mayfield was listed as his post office. Wiley, his wife Nancy, and 3 of his children, Mary, Matilda, and Sarah are recorded together. At the bottom of that census page is the Issac Tucker family, and another of Wiley's kids, 9 year old James is recorded with that particular family (not sure why). Information from these 2 censuses, as well as the 1870 and 1880 censuses for Independence County, AR, state that Wiley was born in NC, between the years 1825 - 1828. I know from other records that Wiley's middle name was William. So...I'm not sure whether Wiley was "W Davis" or "W W Davis". I do not know who Wiley's parents were (my brickwall!). This past weekend, I was at Tupelo, and Brice's Crossroads, retracing some of the steps of the 12th KY Cavalry. Maybe you can shed some light on this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I have read, Graves County was very much pro-South during the war, and I can only surmise that when the war was over, Southern sympathizers and former Confederate soldiers, probably were not too welcome in the area. At least that's my take on why the Wiley Davis family moved to Arkansas. Thanks for your help. Terry