Why are men deserting the war and coming back to Illinois?

Soldiers began deserting when they reached a point at which they believed the war was hopeless. The soldiers were exhausted and demoralized. Thus, they began to leave their companies and head home to their farms.

Deserters were dangerous and determined to elude capture. Barns were burned because their owners were suspected of being Confederate sympathizers. Jethro's real problem with the question of desertion comes when he hides his cousin, Eb, deserts from the Union army.

"Then a skeleton came out from among the trees. It was the skeleton of a Union soldier, though the uniform it wore was so ragged and filthy it was difficult to identify. The sunken cheeks were covered with a thin scattering of fuz; the hair was lank and matted. It fell over the skeleton's forehead and down into its eyes. The boy (Eb) stared at it without speaking." (pg. 134)