Joe, No I did not know that. He never told my dad. He told him there was a group of them that walked together and that while still in the north they walked at night and hid to sleep during the day and after they got into the south they reversed that and they would stop at war widows farms and do chores and in turn they were allowed to sleep in the barns, have a hot meal and get a bath. They would stay at a place long enough to get the farm fixed up which would not take long with a group working together. That of course added quite a time to their travels. His mother did not even know he was alive. I never did learn how long it took them all to get home. I don't know who he was captured with and what ever happened to him. He became quite wealthy, my granddad lost it all.

I am not surprised that they would not sign the oath, they were proud people and even though they were sick and poor, they did charity work all the way home without giving it a second thought. They felt it was their duty.

I had another grandfather that walked home from Vicksburg, 150 miles. Because he was an officer, he was offered transportation but he gave his place to one of his wounded boys. He commanded teenagers.

Thanks for the information, I will add it to my bio of him.

Ken