 During June 1865, 96,796 troops and 8,896 animals left Washington, D.C., for the Ohio Valley.There 70,000 men took steamboats to Louisville and the remainder embarked for St. Louis and Cincinnati.The troops boarded ninety-two steamboats at Parkersburg and descended the river in convoys of eight boats, to the sounds of cheering crowds and booming cannon salutes at every port city.