Tell me more! Question about Confederate Paroles @ Appomattox...

William Wit

Private
Joined
Aug 10, 2017
Location
Charleston SC
Hey all! I have a chance to acquire a parole document from Appomattox for a Confederate private, but upon reviewing the list of parolees here (https://www.nps.gov/apco/learn/historyculture/upload/parolelist-s1.pdf), I can’t find him listed. HOWEVER, I found the Captain that signed the parole document listed, correctly and with the correct unit.

My question is: Was that a common thing for a Captain (or other commander) to issue a parole that wasn’t on the official list? I found other soldiers in the same unit, so it seems odd. That being said, I found BOTH the private and Captain (correct ranks, company, and overall unit) listed on the main Soldiers and Sailors DB via NPS.

The date of the document is April 10th, 1865 - and here’s a photo:

Private: https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search...oldierId=49CF6DD1-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A

Captain: https://www.nps.gov/civilwar/search...oldierId=56886DD0-DC7A-DF11-BF36-B8AC6F5D926A

Captain is listed in the “S” section of that Parolee List as: Shuford, Pinkney C. - Capt., 32nd NC Inf., Co. E, Comdng. Reg

So it seems to check out, aside from the private himself not being listed on the official parole list. And I noted that the Captain’s name was spelled “Shooford” on the note but I know that different spellings were pretty commonplace during the war.

Any thoughts? And thank you!
Dave
 
Last edited:
Its not a parole document but more of a pass. Fold 3 has it spelled Civils.
civils.jpg
 
Gotcha. So it seems like all of the specifics (misspellings aside) check out - it’s just that it’s some sort of pass and not a parole document. Still pretty neat I guess! The unit is pretty storied, I know that (32nd NC).

EDIT: Yep, found him in the “C”s: https://www.nps.gov/apco/learn/historyculture/upload/parolelist-c1.pdf
Here’s the deal, it wasn’t until Lee met a second time with Grant on the 10th that written paroles were discussed and agreed to. Gibbon was able to procure a printing press and form print paroles. Chamberlain was asked why the surrendered did not sign their parole and he replied, half of these men would be dead from starvation if we had them line up to sign lists.

The document in question is verbatim of the language used in the printed forms, but it is also noted that the infantry were the last to be paroled on the 12th and with a weapons turn in ceremony. Cavalry & Artillery were paroled first due to the poor condition of their animals 10th & 11th.

As a joke on a well known ACW author, I created a document that was barely discernible from an original. The document was one he had in one of his books, but owned by a collector. I copied verbatim until the end where I inserted his name as well as a friend of his as Federal privates. He was mesmerized until he saw his name in the body.

Basically saying that paper is very easy to fake, I used old blank newspaper, brown ink in a fountain pen, coffee ground staining and 24 hr trip in the garbage. I then ironed the paper to get faint burn marks, then creased again.
 
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