Dear Martha Re: Joel W. Wooten. I'll answer your questions with what I have studied on the Civil War but with the information available, we may never be exactly sure what happened. 1. How would the POWs have been transported? Three means were used by both sides. Steam boats were used early in the war and trains if they were available. In 1865, both boats and trains were very scarce for both sides, The third way was by marching or walking. I think we have two clues on the transporation of Joel. Note that his compiled record from the Federal provost marshall in Washington, D.C. states "sent 24 Jan 1865 to Jacksonville, Fl. Other records I have seen will say "Transported" or "sent by boat (and the boat is named). The second clue is that he was admitted to the provost guard, USA Hospital at Hilton Head on 14 Feb 1865. This is about 21 days from when the POWs were "sent" from D.C. until Joel was admitted to the hospital at Hilton Head. This would be a very long marching time for regular troops but very reasonable for sick and wounded POWs. The 21 days were certainly too long for a trip by train or boat.These two clues lead me to conclude that this group of POWs were marched under guard from Washington D.C. to Jacksonville. 2. Would they have stopped for medical reasons? In my opinion, no. Only if a hospital or medical aid was very convenient. Contrary to popular opinion, treatment of POWs by both the North and South was very hard in the last two years of the war. Medical supplies were short and by then everyone was very bitter. At Camp Douglas . Ill, over 2,000 Confederate POWs were untreated for stomach problems (from bad food) and died between Jan and June 1865. Had the South won the war, we would have had a movie "Camp Douglas" instead of "Andersonville". I would suspect that Joel Wooten, being very sick, was carried by his fellow prisioners. POWs that died enroute were simply buried by the side of the road. In Joel's group of prisioners, I suspect they were being marched to Jacksonville for final release. They had signed "Oaths of Allegiance (most likely under duress) and the Federals were in control of all Confederate States, except Virginia, at that point of the war. When these prisioners got close to a Federal Hospital, the Federal Commander turned the terminally ill POWs over to the hospital. It could have been from compassion but most likely it was to help speed up his march and to keep the number of prisioners who died on his march down. Joel most likely died of dysentery. My gggrandgfather, James Madison Wooten, died of dysentery as a POW at Camp Douglas, one of the 2,000. I hope this "thesis" helps some. I did not intend to present myself as a civil war expert. That war, however, has always fascinated me and I have studied it for several years. I particularly enjoy tracing an ancestor's regiment through the war. Forrest