Years later, Isaac L. Thomas would relate how he and his comrader headed into east Tennessee to reinforce the outnumbered Confederate forces there:
Preparations were then being made ... and they needed all the soldiers they could muster. We Were ordered in that direction. Our horses were put in the cars and we on the top to make the trip to Knoxville. We had a tedious trip. The railroad Was bad and the cars old and worn, so repairs had to be made at nearly every station. But there were plenty of watermelons on the depot platforms" some of which found their way to us. We would eat the heart out and then throw the rinds at the few section hands along the road, who responded with rocks, which naturally fell on the rear cars after we had passed. We hadn't run very far till all the boys were crowded on the front cars. Arriving in Knoxville, we were unloaded and went south across the bridge on the Tennessee River ...
Private Isaac Thomas later wrote to the Confederate Veteran that they were:
... east of New River, where we were when Lee surrendered. Some of us wanted to leave and go join Johnston's army, but we were overpersuaded by our officers and struck out for home, fearing that if we surrendered there the Yankees would take our horses. We surrendered at Cumberland Gap and got our paroles.