Stuart asked: >>> For example a lot of the Louisianians captured at Shiloh and the Kentucky Campaign were exchanged at Vicksburg in early November or Aikens Landing around November 11, 1862. <<<
Exchange was a three step process: (1) prisoners were paroled for exchange at the POW camp; (2) "paroled prisoners" were transfered to a delivery point and handed over to their own side; and (3) the "prisoners on parole" were then sent to parole camps (or hospitals if in need of examination and further care) operated by the their own side to await a declaration of exchange. From the signing of the Dix-Hill Cartel (general exchange agreement) on July 22, 1862 until some time in mid-December 1862, Vicksburg was the designated delivery point of POWs in the West. Confederate POWs were taken to parole camps around Jackson, Mississippi, and in some cases elsewhere in the Department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, to await a personal declaration of exchange.
Meantime, the paperwork (delivery muster rolls) were sent to the Confederate Agent of Exchange in Richmond who then agreed with his counterpart to an exchange list trading names "man for man, or equivalents." When the two sides had agreed to a list, the confirmation was sent back to the parole camps on both sides and the men released from their parole obligations and returned to their units for duty. The Confederate POWs delivered at Vicksburg in 1862 were not sent to Virginia, only their paper work. November 11, 1862 is one of the last dates of an exchange list being agreed to at Aiken's Landing before they moved the "flag of truce" and "exchange delivery" point back to City Point.
Aiken's Landing on the north bank of the James River was the designated Eastern delivery point under the Dix-Hill Cartel. It was chosen because it was in the no man's land between Lee's and McClellan's armies on the Peninsula in July 1862. When the two armies moved away, the exchange administrators were left with a shallow draft river landing and muddy farm roads back to Richmond to work with. In mid-November 1862, it was agreed to move the delivery point to City Point (modern day Hopewell) on the south bank of the James River. Deeper water and a railroad line to Petersburg made this a more feasible location for this delivery work for both sides. City Point continued to be the primary delivery point for POWs until May 5, 1864 when General Butler occuppied the town at the start of his Bermuda Hundred Campaign.
The Eastern delivery point was moved back to Aiken's Landing and later to Cox's Landing. When Fort Harrison was captured on September 29, 1864, Cox's Landing fell behind Union lines. Boulware's Wharf about 4 miles up the river in the new "no man's land" was pressed into service as the neutral delivery point site. Special exchange deliveries were made at Charleston, South Carolina and at Venus Point at the mouth of Savannah River in late October and early November 1864.
The final deliveries of the war in February and March 1865 were made at Boulware's Wharf. Camp Townsend and the Aubrey Territory were created at Big Black Bridge to replace Vicksburg during this resumption of exchange deliveries in March 1865.
Vicksburg ceased to be a delivery point when General Grant fixed upon it as the target of his campaign to open the Mississippi River. With good reason, it was feared that the returned Confederates would simply contribute additional manpower to the defenses of Vicksburg. The last delivery record I have found was in mid-December 1862. There after, until the very last months of the war, deliveries for exchange from mid-western POW locations were made at City Point. This involved cross country railroad trips to Philadelphia and Baltimore. By the time Vicksburg surrendered on July 4, 1863, the Dix-Hill Cartel was at the point of collapse. A western delivery point was no longer needed.
Stuart asked: >>> I'd like to locate sources that list who was exchanged...anyone got their fingers deep into this subject that I may pick your brain for help? <<<
The exchange lists that survived are preserved in the National Archives. I don't know that they have been microfilmed. The names and information were extracted and posted to each individual soldier's Compiled Military Service Records at the turn of the 19th/20th centuries. Early exchanges lists for officers can be found published in the Official Records, Series II.
Stuart and I have already corresponded about his project. I wanted to post this response for other readers who might have an interest in this arcane subject.
Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
http://www.del.net/org/fort