I Would Walk 500 Miles. . .

So how far did Ashley Wilkes travel to return to Tara, and the two women waiting there for him? According to modern maps it is 806 miles from Rock Island Prison in Illinois to Jonesboro, Georgia.  This is based on the current United States Highway system.  Since there were no real "roads" or direct routes, except to follow railroad lines, the miles Ashly walked could've been greater.   There is no mention if the prisoners were provided with any means of transportation after their release, either via wagons or trains, or if they received any rations or other supplies.  How Do We Run: A Gone With The Wind Scrapbook has a great article on Rock Island, including pointing out that Margaret Mitchell made the prison sound worse then it was.  

If Rhett Butler decided to travel to Tara after the war, he would have traveled 395 from Bennet Place in Durham, North Carolina to Jonesboro, Georgia based on the current United States Highway system.   He definitely would have fared better than Ashley, "After the surrender, Sherman issued ten days’ rations to the starving Confederate soldiers – more precisely he returned Southern food to Southern mouths – as well as horses and mules for them to “insure a crop.” He also ordered distribution of corn, meal, and flour to civilians throughout the South. . . . The final agreement was simply a military surrender with no civil guarantees. All acts of war were to cease. Arms were to be turned over to the union forces. Side arms, private horses, and baggage were to be retained by officers. All officers and men were required to promise individually in writing not to take up arms again."  Deo Vindice-God Will Vindicate.  In addition, some of the Confederate troops mustering out received pay,  "Portions of the Confederate Treasury were evidently handed out among the troops. According to Maj. G. W. F. Harper of the 58th North Carolina, “At Greensboro, the regiment was paid in Mexican silver dollars –one dollar and fourteen cents to each officer and enlisted man present.”  North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources.    

I always wondered why Rhett did not return to Tara to check on Scarlett and Melanie.  Was it guilt about abandoning them?  Fear that Scarlett would remember his confession of love and use it against him?  Was it his vanity?  Did he not want to return looking like a defeated, ragged scarecrow? Perhaps a combination of all those things?