How did amputated/disabled soldiers get back home?

[cobiesmul47]

Suppose a soldier survived a battle with bullets in their legs, was found in the field among the dead after the battle, and had both of their legs amputated at a field hospital in a life saving measure? If they survived the amputation, what happened to them from there? How did they get home if they could no longer use a horse, being legless? Even if they were carried onto a train, not everyone lived close enough to a train station. Were they escorted by military personnel from the train all the way back to their family home possibly miles away? Did the Confederate and Union armies write to the soldier's families and tell them where to pick them up on arrival from a train or that they needed to travel all the way to the location the soldier was to get them? If the soldiers were in a hospital hundreds of miles from their home, that would mean a difficult trip for their families to come get them, let alone their return journey. Was the crippled soldier supposed to find their own way back home, their family not even alerted?

I'm also more curious how this occurred in 1861 in a less developed area like western Missouri around the start of the war, if the year makes a difference in how it was handled.

[Durk]

Hi coblesmul47 and welcome to the forum.
Your question presents a most interesting worst case scenario. But it also presents a 'best' case scenario for a field hospital rescue.
To answer, you must first realize your hypothetical double amputee soldier would likely have died near the field hospital. Such a serious wound to take both legs would certainly be lethal, not survivable.
But let us assume you simply mean how could someone who managed to survive a wound which rendered them so disabled they had lost ambulatory mobility get home. They would have, indeed, have had an escort home. Escorts should not be difficult to imagine, soldiers returned home for many reasons, to vote, to recruit and to bring home the wounded. Perhaps in a wheelchair. Families were notified by telegraph as well as by letter and would have known when the soldier came home by train. At that time, trains were so much more accessible than now. You may know first hand how many rail lines are now abandoned. Then, in almost any town, a train could bring you to the smallest of towns. To further explain, almost every resident was within 20 miles of a rail depot, even in the Trans-Mississippi. Only in the Far West had rail not yet arrived. A wagon could carry anyone the remaining miles from a depot.
Read about the wagons carrying wounded from the field of Gettysburg as Lee's army retreated South and you will understand how in the Western theaters wounded were very carefully removed from battles.