Whether he went by rail via Wilmington, or via Greensboro, those two routes converged at Kinsgville, in extrme southeastern Richland District (now county), S.C., and from there he would go south on the S. C. Railroad via Orangeburg to Branchville,a nd thence by rail to Hamburg, present day North Augusta, S.C. The trains stopped running on this segment due to Sherman's advance about 8 Feb, although it was possible to hoof it through for a day or two afterward. Crossing the Savannah by ferry, he could entrain on the Georgia Railroaed and go about as far as the Oconee River between Greensboro and Madison, but from taht point on the railroad to Atlanta had been thoroughly wreckecd by Sherman's forces (at least from Madison, anyhow).

A motivated and otherwise healthy man could easily walk twenty-five miles a day, and for a man headed hoem on furlough, he would be well-motivated. But there was a good deal of walking to go from that point -- about 60 miles to Atlanta, and then on to Campbell County, another 20-30 miles, depending where one lived.

After mid-February, the railroad as far north as Chester was wrecked. A person could take the train as far as Chester, walk overland to Newberry, and catch the Greenville and Columbia Railroad (later the Southern) from that point to Hodges Depot, in present day Greenwood County, then a short spur line to Abbeville. Or else he could walk the whole way to Abbeville, following generally the route Jefferson Davis took in late April. From Abbeville there was a well-travelled road (called the Vienna Road in South Carolina) to Washington, Ga. (again, the route which the Davis party took). This was the route that the troops from Hood's army followed when coming east to reinforce Johnston. The Confederate military maintained a pontoon bridge across the Savannah River about five miles southwest of Mt. Carmel, in McCormick County, S. C. It is rumored that Judah Benajmin or someone one in the Davis entourage threw the Great Seal of the Confederacy in the Savannah River at this point, and also at this point most of the remaining Confederate specie (not the private banks' money) was divided among the escort per capita, each man receiving a share of $25 (or $32, according to another acocunt). From Washington there was a choice of roads to take south and west. It was a long trip.

The route from Chester via Abbeville to Washington was the route taken by most of the troops of Lee's and Johnston's armies after their paroles when heading to homes in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. There wasn't much reason to go via Columbia because the country was so burned out and devastated by Sherman's forces. Mary Boykin Chesnut, the wife of the Senator and advisor to Davis, made the trop from Chester to her home in Camden at the end of April/beginning of May, and reported that every hosue between the two places had been burned. Not much of a military target, but total devastation nonetheless.