My two cents for what it is worth. These poor Confederate soldiers who loyally served were without food or water and walked home from the war, broken.
I know the story that of Pleas Loyd, my gg grandfather who came home to White County, but died within months of arriving. No one recognized him when they saw him coming down the road saying something like, "here comes another one of those beggars" when one of the former old slaves said, "that's Pleas." They all ran to greet him and Pleas would not let anyone touch him because he was "lousy."
I share this story because people need to understand what a terrible shape these men were in.
I have a photo of Lt Herron who rode with the 7th Tennessee Cav. which was made on his wedding day in 1868. That poor man looked like he had been to "Hell and back" and that was three years after the war ended.
Most of the time when we think of Confederate soldiers, we think of photos of the old men who had fattened up and mellowed out. But when the war ended, this part of the world was in a sad shape. Only death and time changed anything.