Hello Stan, forgive me for this slight intrusion, in respects to your ancestor "Boring" taking the oath of allegience as most of the confederates did while in prison at the end of the War also meant that they were provided transportation back home. One of the benefits I guess for taking the Oath. This of course was NOT forced upon the former prisoners but merely used as an inducement for their oathes. This does NOT mean that they were taken directly to their front door step either. I would imagine that a lot of the rails in the Southland were in poor working order if at all. Even in the best of intentions I'm sure almost all of them did a lot of walking despite the rail ride toward home. Prisons such as Douglas, Chase, Morton, and many others used this method in getting Confederates home.