Paroling of Captured Troops behind Enemy Lines

alan polk

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
Reading a bit about Grierson’s raid deep into Mississippi, I noticed that the Yankee troopers captured and then paroled a good number of Confederate soldiers.

This all happened deep in Confederate held territory.

Does anyone know how this worked in reality? I’m assuming there were no commissioners involved in such paroles. If there were not (and I can’t see how there could have been - Grierson did not say), were they conducted on some sort of honor system? Did Grierson take their names or something and later submit them to some data base?

I don’t know, but if I were a Johnny, and my mom was not around to hear me tell a horrible lie, I’d have just given a fake name to the blue coats and gone on with the business of fighting!

Anyhow, how did such things work to make it binding under the rules?
 
It would have been on the honor system. They might have taken names but I doubt they were ever followed up on. I have read where Gen Forrest did the same thing. I'll see if I can find it but I do remember that he took all their horses and weapons etc and left them only with a canteen. Being they were captured and released in enemy territory I would love to know their fate. I'm sure the CS troops Grierson captured and released were very well taken care of.
 
Here are 2 that knew where to find. It appears he paroled them. The quote from Sherman is very telling.
prisoners.png
prisoners-1.png
 
Have always wondered about this, too. I mean, how likely was it, even in the unlikely event a previously paroled man was re-captured by the same, exact officer would he recognize that guy? Unless there was some master list continually revised and sent to each unit, how would anyone know?

How seriously was it taken? 126th New York was captured at Harper's Ferry, paroled and was active through the rest of the war.
 
An indirect ancestor was paroled in Middle Tennessee in 1864. He had been captured at his home, too sick to be sent to a POW camp. They told him that as soon as he was well, they'd send him North, but they never did. The terms for violation--death.
 
The issue of parole was taken very seriously in the early part of the war. Capt. Cotter of the 1st Ohio Light Artillery, Battery A was captured. He was given the free run of the town by the Confederates (with an accompanying guard). They paroled him, but still held him for a while until they thought they could safely send him back. He was then escorted to the lines and returned through the union camp, stopping by Gen. Buell's tent, giving him a report of what he had seen. He then returned home to Ravenna Ohio to wait for notification that he had been exchanged. once he received notification, he reported back for duty.

Later, when Gen. Buell was court marshaled for his conduct at that battle, Capt. Cotter was brought in as a witness for Buell. When Cotter told them about stopping by Buell's tent, they stopped the court marshal and began to question Cotter about whether or not he had violated his parole by stopping by Buell's tent and talking to him about what he had seen.
 
This description of parole is from Portal to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War by Lonnie Spear.

"The system of parole and exchange was an old European tradition that operated on the good faith of the governments involved. Captured soldiers who were released often went home to wait for orders to rejoin their units, which came after a corresponding number of prisoners were captured and 'exchanged' on paper, by the opposing side. During the Civil War, any prisoner not exchanged within ten days of being captured was usually released upon signing a pledge that he would not take up arms against his enemy until notified he had been exchanged for an enemy captive. Texas authorities, however, became the first in this war to modify the policy and hold prisoners of war until the exchange."
 
Have always wondered about this, too. I mean, how likely was it, even in the unlikely event a previously paroled man was re-captured by the same, exact officer would he recognize that guy? Unless there was some master list continually revised and sent to each unit, how would anyone know?

How seriously was it taken? 126th New York was captured at Harper's Ferry, paroled and was active through the rest of the war.

As with other crimes, you might get away with it, but do you want to risk the penalty?

Some men might be just as happy being paroled. They would have done their duty as soldiers, no one could criticize them for sitting it out until exchanged; indeed, that was the proper and honorable thing.

Here's a bit about the 126th New York:

"Regiment surrendered September 15. Paroled September 16 and sent to Annapolis, Maryland, then to Camp Douglas, Chicago, Illinois, and duty there guarding prisoners until November. Declared exchanged November 22, 1862."

Interesting that they did perform military duty while on parole.
 
Would raiders like Forrest or Grierson carry a supply of parole forms? Seems unlikely.... So what would prevent a fellow who just didn't want to fight from claiming that he had been captured and paroled by a Yankee/rebel raiding party? Assuming he lived somewhere where such parties might conceivably be operating.
 
Would raiders like Forrest or Grierson carry a supply of parole forms? Seems unlikely.... So what would prevent a fellow who just didn't want to fight from claiming that he had been captured and paroled by a Yankee/rebel raiding party? Assuming he lived somewhere where such parties might conceivably be operating.

Realistically, most captured soldiers were sent to POW camps to await exchange. In any case, I can't imagine that in the cauldron of war, captives could talk their way out of imprisonment by claiming prior capture.
 
Would raiders like Forrest or Grierson carry a supply of parole forms? Seems unlikely....
I can't say whether they carried forms, but John Newman Edwards describes J.O. Shelby paroling captured men during his raids into Missouri. Of course, it almost goes without saying that a raider cannot drag a large group of captives along. Paroling was the only practical thing to do. Whether Shelby issued a piece of paper to each parolee, I can't say. In one of the greatest stories about him, he "paroled" some of the teenaged home guard boys at his capture of Boonville during Price's 1864 invasion. Shelby simply lectured the boys, telling them that war was no business for young boys, and then asked them: "If I release you, will you promise to go home?" One boy spoke for all the others and said yes. One of Shelby's colonels then stood with his arm against the door frame of the court house door, and any boy who could walk under it without ducking, was released! I'm sure they all had to duck a bit, but the colonel scared the daylights out of a particularly tall boy by saying: "You're too tall. You go back!" Presumably, that boy was released, too, but his release was not confirmed in the memoir of Charles C. Bell, who wrote the story.
 
The system was breaking down by the time of Gettysburg. A considerable number of Union POWs captured on July 1 & 2 refused parole. Some declined believing it was against Henry Halleck's recent suspension of prisoner exchanges. Others calculated their captivity would be short. As a result many Federal POWs were marched back to Virginia with Lee's retreating Confederates.
 
One of the complaints made by Union forces in the Upper Cumberland region of Middle Tennessee (see parole image) was that they often found them on the bodies of dead bushwhackers, i.e. guerrillas. Patrick Brady, as far as I know kept his parole. He was later denied his pension claim bt the State of Tennessee because he had taken a parole before the end of the war and never went back to the army. Very unfair since, to my knowledge, Pat was never formally exchanged.
 
Would raiders like Forrest or Grierson carry a supply of parole forms? Seems unlikely.... So what would prevent a fellow who just didn't want to fight from claiming that he had been captured and paroled by a Yankee/rebel raiding party? Assuming he lived somewhere where such parties might conceivably be operating.
An indirect ancestor from Holly Springs, Miss. who had been a judge before the war was on the rolls of Forrest's staff at the surrender. He was an assistant advocate, meaning Forrest had legal eagles in his command. I bet anything they had parole blanks in their baggage or could call on a local printer before or after an action.
 
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