Freed Prisoners in Combat?

[Trebaol]

I am running a lengthy game set during the war, and because the players are not as cautious or sensible as any of the actual commanders they have created predicaments I need to resolve in order to ensure as accurate an experience as I am able.

In this case, federal troops were captured in a raid and moved behind confederate lines. The Confederate commander did not then send them further south and to a confederate prison, but instead retained them behind his lines in a makeshift camp. Things have gone poorly for the confederates in the day since and now the camp guards and reserve units are under pressure from advancing union soldiers and the captives themselves have been freed.

The dilemma is...do these men, formerly captured, return to duty directly? Would they be removed to a supply depot, like Pittsburgh Landing or even Cairo? Clearly the reordering of their material supplies would be one major operational hurdle...but there's a lot of bureaucratic layers to the question as well.

To my knowledge nothing quite like this, or at least at a large scale, happened in the war, and so there's no incident I can review or dive into for answers. It isn't merely an act of returning men directly to the fight or not, but also just...what would be the obligation of the commanding officers and the needs of these men post capture back in friendly lines? Apologies if it's an unusual question, especially since it's a hypothetical, but I feel that it gives an opportunity to dig into the behind the scenes aspects of administrating the war and how armies conducted their logistics.

 

[RedRover]

Sometimes, early in the war, where it was considered inconvenient or impossible to hold them captive, prisoners were released on their parole of honor not to take up arms again until officially exchanged by the cartels between the armies. This was abided to an extent by both sides. Otherwise there was the official cartels between the two contending armies, organized at the highest levels, or between commanders opposing each other in the field.

In 1863 the US Army essentially ordered its personnel not to give parole of honor, that they would not be recognized to excuse them from duty; only the exchanges of actual captive prisoners:

General Early of the Confederate Army, observed that the above order was issued as the titanic Battle of Gettysburg came to a conclusion, and by it the Confederates felt constrained to retain the several thousand prisoners in their hands, rather than parole them in the field, and retreat the more rapidly to Virginia...

Besides those exchanged, any escaped or Liberated prisoners of war were not considered bound in any manner against resuming their duties with arms in hand once fit to do so.

 

[Trebaol]

Sometimes, early in the war, where it was considered inconvenient or impossible to hold them captive, prisoners were released on their parole of honor not to take up arms again until officially exchanged by the cartels between the armies. This was abided to an extent by both sides. Otherwise there was the official cartels between the two contending armies, organized at the highest levels, or between commanders opposing each other in the field.

In 1863 the US Army essentially ordered its personnel not to give parole of honor, that they would not be recognized to excuse them from duty; only the exchanges of actual captive prisoners:

View attachment 586784

General Early of the Confederate Army, observed that the above order was issued as the titanic Battle of Gettysburg came to a conclusion, and by it the Confederates felt constrained to retain the several thousand prisoners in their hands, rather than parole them in the field, and retreat the more rapidly to Virginia...

View attachment 586786


Besides those exchanged, any escaped or Liberated prisoners of war were not considered bound in any manner against resuming their duties with arms in hand once fit to do so.

This is perfect, as it both highlights the original standards expected of the cartels before they were discontinued, but also the clear language, at least in the National government, that any detainee was expected to immediately either conduct an escape or upon receipt of return go directly back to complete their service under the terms of their original contract with the country.

Thank you, it's perfect because the nuance of the situation is rendered null by the clarity of the terms of the agreement. It bypasses any 'what if' and simply makes it a clear guideline to follow.

 

[gary]

Liberated prisoners don't need to sit in parole camps. "Pick up a musket soldier and fall in line (and, kidding, your time off as a prisoner will be deducted from your pay)!" (adapted from Blazing Saddles and I know imprisoned soldiers had back pay coming to them.)