As I recollect they will check the soldiers service records in Washington and if the soldier has any desertion notation they may disallow. In addition to them already having a personal marker. You may have to have one made yourself. The flat type similar to the VA markers generally only will cost a few hundred.

As we know many soldiers deserted. I had a grandfather that left a Louisiana unit right after Vicksburg and went home with several others to most likely protect his family back in Jackson Parish. There were many bushwackers and bandits reported in the area and Parson's Texas cavalry sent units to attempt to clean them out. Certainly the soldiers would have received letters describing the distress of their families. As the war progressed those reported present vs those present and absent or awol became considerable. All wars are popular in the beginning but if they drag on and on forget it. Even the last few years of our WWII enforced conscription was necessary to fill up and create new units. And most of us remember Vietnam after 1968.