I've read diaries of Confederate soldiers with legal furloughs getting off the train in Meridian and walking from there to their homes, via roads that went through this section of the state. They discribe seeing and talking groups of deserters, some they personally knew, hiding out in these woods in almost a matter-of-fact way. It was expressed that these were mixed groups (from different Confederate units) not just those formed from local area.

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David Upton