How did they march 12-18 miles per day?

Jackson's forced marches still are a grimacing thing for me to imagine. And his troops still loved him (or did they just fear him?)
Stonewall stood on a large rock at Thourghfare Gap where his men cheered so loud as they walked by, he thanked them and then asked them to please be silent because the Union Army in Manassas might hear them. I think having respect for each other would be about right.
 
One thing to take into account is the high carb and fat diet they were on.
Here is a list of ration for the month of July 62 for 1st Brigade, Price'S Corps Army of the West.
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Now Jackson's valley campaigne was just among some of the heavy marching done during the war. Believe it or not the entire war was not fought in the east.

Check out this account:

https://civilwartalk.com/threads/tr...-corinth-1862-an-account.135734/#post-1568998
 
Several have mentioned the conditioning on the trail, made me think of this journal -
The 3rd Iowa Inf. left Memphis just before noon, 6 Sep '62, after being stationed there about 6 weeks.
Sgt Will Newlon logs: "Marched 9 miles where we now rest for the night. The march was very hard on the men as they have not marched very much for more than a month."
Will points out challenges affecting travel time: "Our regiment is the rearguard of the division today, which decidedly is the hardest place to march in a division. The division train (about two miles long) was immediately in advance of us and some of the teams were continually balking, breaking down bridges &c which made it very tedious indeed."
They proceed to march 16-17 miles a day for the next 7 days (except for 1 day off to build a bridge). They have a 24 mile day a bit later in the month, and march well over 20 again on Oct 4 - the day before fighting the Battle of Hatchie Bridge (where Newlon loses a leg).

Tim
 
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