Ms. Patton,

You may want to check the dates on each of the cards in his Compiled Military Service Record to ensure they are correct. It would have bee very, very unusual for someone to be sent to Rock Island and then sent back to Louisville to be exchanged. I am curious if they gave a reason for exchanging him in this way. The normal disposition was that prisoners where sent to Nashville and given a chance to swear allegience to the Union and then sent north of the Ohio River for the remainder of the war. If they did not at Nashville, another opportunity was given to them at Louisville. If they did not swear allegience in Louisville then they were sent to the Prisoner of War Camp. Generally speaking, most of the Missionary Ridge prisoners went to Camp Douglas and Rock Island. They next opportunity for them to get out of prison was death by disease, joining the U.S. Volunteer Infantry Regiments (a.k.a. Galvanizing) to go help in the genocide of the Indians, or being exchanged very late in the war if their health was so bad that the Federals were sure they could not rejoin their unit to fight again.

The Confederate Prisoners were taken to the railroad depot at Chattanooga and sent via train north. The route would likely been along the Nashville & Chattanooga Railroad. You can see two pictures of them standing awaiting transportation in "Cities under the Gun: Images of Occupied Nashville and Chattanooga," by James A. Hoobler on page 166. The Passenger Depot, Car Shop, Machine Shop, and Freight Depot was located in the area where the TVA Building, the Chattanooga Public Library, and Krystal Building are at today.

I hope this helps.

Respectfully,

Gerald D. Hodge, Jr.
War Between the States Historian
Historian: 39th Georgia Volunteer Infantry Regiment
http://39thgavolinfrgt.homestead.com/39thHomepage.html