Post Civil War Trivia Question (I don't know the answer)

[pokerfan]

When the Civil War ended, tens of thousands of defeated, tired and hungry Confederate soldiers began their long journeys home. When they reached their destinations, many of them discovered that their homes, farms and the lives they knew were gone.

Most of them stayed, but thousands left to put their lives and their livelihoods back together, and in many cases, they were carrying something. It was a tool, in fact. There soon came to be a name for these young men, and over time that name evolved into a word that is still in common use today.

The question is, what's the word? And for bonus points, what's the origin of the word?

From CarTalk:
http://www.cartalk.com/content/puzzler/transcripts/200608/index.html

[sakabatou]

1. What was the place where the War started and ended?

[Squatch]

5. Started at Fort Sumter, SC ended at Appomatox CH, VA

[TheBaldyMan]

2. gimcrack or doohickey?

it won't be tinhorn will it?

[GoddessOfGuinness]

3. I'll bet it's chiseler...

and its origin was the result of people who scraped bits of metal off the edges of coins made of precious metal.

[BrotherBuzz]

4. Kick for some more brainstorming

[SOteric]

6. The Knapsack,

and it's believe to be a Dutch bastardisation of knapzak, which is a bag of food.

The Knapsack carried all a soldier's personal belongings, his bedroll, his provisions, his water and his clothing.

[BrotherBuzz]

14. Hmmm, Knapsack or the smaller Haversack which was called a poke

Cowpoke - cowboy :shrug:

[Deep13]

7. Journeymen?

Some who is more than an apprentice, but not yet a master. I thought the term was older than that. Don't think it is carpetbagger since that is a Northerner going South to make a fortune.

[Deep13]

15. Checked, this term is from Old English.

[warrens]

8. Hobo

Hoeboy

[Deep13]

11. could be

[Deep13]

13. bing! bing! bing! bing! We have a winnah.

http://www.northbankfred.com/punks.html

[obreaslan]

17. So that's where the term came from...

Cool. It's good to learn things. :)

[pokerfan]

20. Thank yew!!!!!!!!!!!

[Hugin]

9. Shotgun?

As in, riding shotgun?

[henslee]

10. Piker? Peckerwood?

[henslee]

12. d

[enigami]

16. But I thought a Ho was

oh never mind

[1gobluedem]

18. Bushwhackers

Most headed out to the plains, Ozarks, and Texas.

I don't know the origin but I can think of a new use for it in this day and age.

[BrotherBuzz]

19. Johnny Reb invented the Weedwacker®?

[enigami]

21. Bushwhacker was a term used

to describe the guerrilla fighters of western Missouri during the Kansas/Missouri boarder wars in the years prior to the Civil war and later during the Civil War.
These were groups of local men of southern heritage who banded together to fight against the hated Kansas Jay hawkers and Red legs who routinely raided into Missouri to terrorize Missouri families. Later the Jay hawkers and Rednecks were Absorbed into the Union Army, legitimizing their particular brand of terror, murder, and thievery.