As good as any.

The travel of the message all that distance was not good. I would have bet on a white flag, parlie in Citronrllie and the surrender carried back across the Union line to Telegraph which the Union relied on. All of the units had couriers at Headquarters. The word would have spread across the South quickly. The Ross Brigade was spread across northern Alabama and Mississippi. It did not take them long to saddle up and go on a set date? That way the Union could expect the troops movement. Some were shot up in east Texas by Union troops who did not know of the parole. From my readings the Confederates got the word and moved out. Do you have any other data. As stupid as things happen, I can believe the route you note. I also see the call for rosters to post for parole. Each unit having to send through chain of command. These rosters and unit designations would have been turned over to Union command as part of the surrender.

I think your are right about R. W. Acuff being held in a cell. A lot were rounded up trying to panhandle or steal goods. Some for just hanging around where they did not belong or should not have been. Once freeded by the general parole the were not ready to go home and face the music, so they just changed direction and started a new life. Mine may have been in that boat. Nobody was really keeping an eye on them, and they just went their way.

Of course we can all be wrong. R.W. may have been in clothes that were not really military after the return from Tennessee and was rounded up as a suspected spy. That would explain the cell.

Where did you find the data that the 27th was patrolling from the Big Black to Jackson. It is familar, but I can not remember where. Surely I have that data.