William Johnson recalled,
Every man was thrilled with delight as he stepped from the boat at Cairo and once more trod upon the soil of his own beloved StateThe next evening the men boarded a stock train headed for Camp Butler. Their journey had been so long, with untold miles of marching, that transportation of any kind, even a foul smelling stock car, seemed to be nearly a luxury.
The next morning they found themselves approaching central Illinois. From almost every farmhouse and dwelling the residents waved a a napkin, towel, pillow case or any handy article of clothing to welcome their boys home.
They reached Camp Butler in the afternoon. As they passed through the gates, many of the men recalled marching out of these gates three years earlier as an full regiment of 1,000 men. Yet today they were a small band of just 200. Where were the missing 800? Some of them were recently released from prisoner of war camps and have not yet found their way home. As noted earlier, may other can be found in graves in the South, or were sent home earlier with injuries caused by battles or disease.
Several days were spent at Camp Butler. Finally, on an afternoon in the middle of September, the battalion was drawn up in line for the last time. Just in front of the line was a house with an open window. When his name was called, each man stepped up to the window and was handed his discharge papers and a roll of money representing the amount of money due form the Government.
An hour or two later the men walked back through the camp gates as citizens and began to make their way home. Many spent the night in Springfield, before taking a train towards St. Louis, and then an eastbound train back towards Bond County and home.
