I think keeping a heavy hand any longer than strictly necessary is a mistake. This isn't a question about whether or not we keep an occupying force in the rebellious states to swat down any Klansmen that try to reorganize - we're doing that either way - it's a question about whether DC specifically or local leaders in areas of Reconstruction will be given primacy for figuring out what to do next, and I think we should start listening to the people on the ground. We just got through with a justified but very disruptive and destructive military crackdown - and if we want to start reconstituting the physical and social infrastructure of the South we need to listen to the people living through it.
Also, rapidly introducing large numbers of radicalized veterans will do interesting things to national politics in the North, and I'm all for that because I'm a messy bitch who lives for the drama
yknow, I'm sure a bunch of fiercely anti-slavery soldiers returning home will have 0 consequences on what is appropriate for reconstruction in the future