Civil War History - General DiscussionFor Discussions on Civil War Era Personalities, Politics, Issues, Campaigns, Battles, and more. Serious Civil War Discussions Only Please! All other posts will be deleted.
I have some questions here. I found this letter submitted by a fellow poster on one of the best threads we ever had, Soldiers Stories. Here is the letter that was entered. I have taken the liberty to underline the portion that I have questions about.
cedarstripper 06-10-2005, 10:09 PM From the oldest brother of my GGGrandfather in the last of a series of letters sent home:
Getysburg, Pa July 2, 1863
Dear Father and Mother
I am thankful that I am still alive and well. But I am sorry to inform you that I am a prisoner of war. We were captured yesterday at this place. The whole regiment are killed or taken prisoner. Lieu Weed and Lamson are with us and are well. Orderly Curtis and William Davis are killed and William Woodruff cannot live if he is alive now. There are now ten that we do not know anything about and six wounded but they are prisoners. Colonel Prey and Colonel Tuthill are wounded but they say that Col Tuthill cannot live. General Paul our brigadier was killed. General Robinson was drunk. Liquor is the curse of our officers. I do not know what they are going to do with us or where they are going to take us. There is twelve of our Co. Tell Erna Davis that William died praying for Jesus to take him. They are still fighting. I sent a letter yesterday morning but I did expect then to be a prisoner now. We are treated with respect but have not got anything to eat yet. There will not be any more use to write to me until you hear from me again. I will write the first time that I can.
Your son, James L. Thompson
PS Than Gearheart had both his legs broken that is what the boys tell me but he is certainly badly wounded.
(letter continued two days later)
July 8, 1863
We are still in the rear of the rebel army. We have determined to go to Richmond rather than to take the parole that they offer us for it is against the order of our secretary of war to accept a parole on the field of battle and these that violate it are to be areasted for deserters and punished accordingly. Lieutenant Weed is sick and he will accept their parole.
Your son, Jas L. Thompson
(James died of starvation in Belle Isle prison, in Richmond, Virginia on February 16, 1864) ____________________________________________ Now my questions are these: Is a "parole" the same as an exchange of prisoners or just a release?
Is this when Southern prisons who had no food and no medicine said, just take them back and take care of your own?
When did the order go out from the U.S. Secretary of War concerning the paroles not being taken due to ill treatment of blacks by the Southern troops?
If it was before Gettysburg why does this soldier not mention this being the reason, why does he assert that he will be arrested as a deserter and punished accordingly?
Which is it, the nobility of dying in a Confederate prison where they didn't have the food to feed the prisoners or is it the fear of being shot as a deserter?
Was he taking his chances as a p.o.w. against the almost complete certainty of being shot as a deserter?
Did he even know that Southerners were being told there would be no exchange because of "black policy"?
Enquiring minds want to know.
For the record, I absolutely mean no disrespect for this brave man who starved to death in a Confederate prison. I merely am questioning the reason he had to die.
Although I thought I had recently entered a letter on Soldiers Stories, I keep a list of threads but I cannot find this one. If anyone has a newer link I would certainly like to see it. I also love going back and reading these old Soldiers Stories and they contain a wealth of information for our newer members. Although I like this new version of our forum in some ways we lost a lot of really "good stuff" simply by its being hard to find now. You have to know what to look for! And sometimes people will inadvertently start an entire new thread, not knowing that we have already covered a lot of the material in depth, before. We can , of course, always add new material, but it would save a lot of time and wear and tear on one's eyes if we didn't get repetitive. I have to be very careful of this on the Poetry thread as well.
__________________ Thea
No one has permission to use any material from any of my posts on any CWT forum, the archives, or any other forum without my express written permission.
A parole was the soldier's pledge to his captors that he would not perform soldierly duties until properly exchanged by the governments. An exchange being a return to service of a certain number of paroled or held prisoners for an equivalent or agreed upon group of enemy soldiers.
I had not known of that order previously (issued July 2nd '63). The current cartel had broken down and the Union was not willing to take on the paroled soldiers, many of whom never returned to their units, whereas the Confederate soldiers did return. These soldiers who had accepted a parole would be returned immediately to service, the parole disregarded as unrecognised by the northern government. Had the soldier refused service he no doubt would be arrested and there was likely some fear of being regarded as deserters.
There was at that time no 'black policy.' And i do not think that at that time there was any widespread inordinate fear of prison camps other than that they were prison camps.
__________________ 'It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag'
Thea:
All the links offer good discussions, especially Sam's to Civilwarinteractive. I am hesitant to suggest reading them all, but they all seem to differ in small details. The letter you posted leads to some interesting speculation.
One, Lee had 15 miles of wagons to haul unspent supplies and wounded; he certainly would not want to be encumbered with prisoners as well.
The prison camps started to get bad after the cartel failed. Until that time, paroles and subsequent exchanges were fairly routine.
Let us know what you think of the links.
Ole
__________________ I never knew a man who wished to be himself a slave. Consider if you know any good thing that no man desires for himself. A. Lincoln
Parolees went back to their lines and generally to a parole camp where they were under military jurisdiction. It was camp life again but without need to be called to serve. One sat in camp (or in the case of officers, went home) until a proper exchange was made by the parole commissioners on both sides. That is, two officers sat down, exchanged names and rank on a basis of 1:1.
Col. Patton (one of Patton's ancestor) was dubious about his parole and felt it unfair to be called back to the colours until he was properly exchanged. He was livid about it because he had given his Union captors his word of honor and as an officer and Southern gentleman, it meant the world to him.
CivilWarTalk.com -
A free and friendly Civil War community. 
Questions concerning paroles, p.o.w.s, etc. 
Linear Mode
