Home from Appomattox

[Confederate grandfathers]

What would be an educated guess, opinion, thought or idea on what route or method members of the North Carolina brigades would have used to return home after receiving their paroles at Appomattox? The paroles supposedly gave them the right to use the railroads, but I understand that probably did not happen because Union troops occupied them. Would they have been required to register with any Union official upon arriving home? I've searched for any information on this but have not had much luck.

 

[DaveBrt]

What would be an educated guess, opinion, thought or idea on what route or method members of the North Carolina brigades would have used to return home after receiving their paroles at Appomattox? The paroles supposedly gave them the right to use the railroads, but I understand that probably did not happen because Union troops occupied them. Would they have been required to register with any Union official upon arriving home? I've searched for any information on this but have not had much luck.

All the North Carolina railroads were operating right after the surrender. Parolees would have been carried whenever there was space on a car, even with the Union in charge of the roads. It was to the Union army's best interest to get these men dispersed to reduce the likelihood of problems.

 

[ErnieMac]

A large part of the answer would depend on where in the state the soldier lived. Eastern North Carolina was pretty much under Federal control (Sherman & Schofield), but Johnston's Army of Tennessee still occupied the central area (Raleigh was captured April 13). Stoneman's cavalry entered the western part of the state on April 9th and were headed south toward Salisbury. IMO unless they were able to catch a train back toward Petersburg and Richmond to head south and east the paroled soldiers were going to walk.

 

[Confederate grandfathers]

Walking was my guess also. My great-grandfather returned to Elizabethtown, Bladen County NC or the countryside around there along with other relatives & friends who were at Appomattox. I have no family papers or history to provide any dates or information. I'm guessing about a week of hard walking, but that sure wasn't anything new. He had a new bride waiting for him so I wouldn't think there was any lagging going on.

 

[East Tennessee Roots]

Walking was my guess also. My great-grandfather returned to Elizabethtown, Bladen County NC or the countryside around there along with other relatives & friends who were at Appomattox. I have no family papers or history to provide any dates or information. I'm guessing about a week of hard walking, but that sure wasn't anything new. He had a new bride waiting for him so I wouldn't think there was any lagging going on.

Don't know if this will help, little over two months after Appomattox. My 2 x great-grandfather from Wilkes County, NC took the oath on June 19, 1865 at Hart's Island, NY. he lived in the "Brushy Mountains." He was provided rail transportation as far as Wilkesboro. Family lore over the years said he "walked back home from prison barefoot." Back from Wilkesboro maybe. Back from New York would be quite a FEAT, requiring two strong FEET !

 

[AndyHall]

A relative of mine was paroled at Rock Island, Illinois in June 1865. He traveled by steamboat to New Orleans, from there to Galveston by coastal steamer, to Houston by steamboat, and then on to Hempstead by rail, all of it (I believe) on a Federal voucher. It took him (IIRC) about ten days, which is hardly longer than any civilian would have prior to the war.

 

[DaveBrt]

Walking was my guess also. My great-grandfather returned to Elizabethtown, Bladen County NC or the countryside around there along with other relatives & friends who were at Appomattox. I have no family papers or history to provide any dates or information. I'm guessing about a week of hard walking, but that sure wasn't anything new. He had a new bride waiting for him so I wouldn't think there was any lagging going on.

Your ancestor had no reason to expect the Union to allow him to ride a train under their control until after Johnston surrendered. Until then, he probably walked south toward Raleigh. By the time he got there, the war was far enough over that he probably got a ride on the Union-controlled North Carolina RR to Goldsboro, then on the Union-controlled Wilmington & Weldon RR to about Mount Olive, the by foot to home.

 

[Confederate grandfathers]

Thanks for the comments. I considered that he (and assuming he was part of a local group of relatives/friends) would have possibly headed for Lynchburg and the railroad there to go south into North Carolina to save some walking, but probably most of the trip was by foot by whichever route taken. They had no weapons, only Union issued rations if any at all, and probably no money to buy food, so it must have been a walk, beg, borrow or steal trip to get home. Pretty dismal time unless you consider they were lucky to be alive, then not quite so bad.

 

[CMWinkler]

Mine was lucky. His second wife lived in Richmond so he went back to Richmond, I expect by horse. They later returned to his home in Corsicana, Texas, I expect by rail and steamboat.