Daniel Squires & Gideon Bray
(Camden County)
Featured Characters – Divided Allegiances
Confederate Deserters in the Mountains
Courtesy of Pictorial War Record, October 27, 1883
Several Unionists seeking to escape conscription hid out in the swamps and woods or fled to free territory. According to local tradition, Daniel Squires and Gideon Bray of Camden County, on the other hand, were able to avoid conscription while still continuing to cultivate their crops and remain at home throughout the war. With their wives on the lookout for conscription officers, they worked the fields at night with guns strapped to them and hid out in the woods during daylight hours.