Good morning Diane:

You haven’t “butted in” at all – this is what these CWMBs are supposed to be about. Rather than respond to all of the questions you posed, let me give you my interpretation of your ancestor’s records based on what you have provided here, and what I know from researching other records.

“Company muster roll” cards contain extracts from his Confederate records. These company muster rolls were supposed to represent the status of the soldier at the end of each muster period (i.e., January & February, March & April, etc.). They were to have been completed at the end of the muster period, but due to campaign conditions and other reasons, some records may have been done after the fact, and some may cover overlapping portions of other periods. “Prisoner of War” records are prison records of capture, transfer, hospitalization, and death created by the Federals. Names and units in these records can be garbled depending on what the captured soldier told his captors. Bits and pieces of information did eventually flow from the Federals to the Confederates and down to the company commanders in the field about who was in Federal military prison.

During the last two years of the war, the Louisville Military Prison served as a “distribution center” for forwarding Confederate POWs captured in the middle South to various northern POW camps. Rules for forwarding were set forth by the Commissary of Prisoners in the War Department in Washington and reflected the ever changing winds of politics, as well as practical considerations, in running these camps.

You wrote: >>>His military records state that he was wounded during his capture in the "head, neck and jaw" - and my grandmother always said he had only one eye as he'd lost one during the war.<<<

Apparently, your ancestor was held somewhere in Tennessee after his capture on October 7, 1863 until he was forwarded to Louisville Military Prison on November 13, 1863. If he were badly wounded, he would have been treated in a U. S. military hospital somewhere, probably Nashville, and that could explain the five weeks that elapsed before he was sent to LMP. But a record of this should have appeared in the CMSR. I don’t know enough about conditions in middle Tennessee in 1863/1864 to speculate further.

You wrote: >>>He appears on those rolls at Camp Morton until one of the "Roll of Prisoners of War" cards states that he was "paroled at Camp Morton, Ind. and forwarded via Baltimore, MD to Point Lookout, Md for exchange, Feb. 14, 1865". <<<

The Dix-Hill Cartel collapsed in the summer of 1863. Point Lookout was made a prison camp and the excess of prisoners dumped on Fort Delaware and other northern camps from the Gettysburg campaign, and the fighting in the west, were siphoned off to Point Lookout beginning in September 1863. As to the note “for exchange” which appeared in or on the transfer to LMP record card of November 13th, my guess would be that the prison keepers in the field had not got the latest word and just assumed that a convalescent man would be sent for exchange. For whatever reason, at LMP, he was directed to Camp Morton instead of Point Lookout or Fort Delaware.

There were occasional special exchanges of the sick and wounded, and for other reasons, after the end of July 1863, but these involved relatively small numbers of men. A large scale exchange was orchestrated by none other than General Butler in September 1864. Those selected for this release had to be certified by a Union army surgeon as “unlikely to be fit for duty for at least 60 days” following their delivery to the Confederates. The September 1864 “humanitarian” release was greeted favorably outside of military circles, as Butler knew it would be, and General Grant was pressured to authorize more.

In February 1865, and again in early March 1865, two large scale releases of sick and wounded meeting the “60 days” test were authorized and the selected POWs were delivered to their respective sides. Men were shipped by rail from camps in the west to Point Lookout and Fort Delaware, and from these points forwarded by water to City Point which was Grant’s huge supply base on the James River. They were not off loaded at City Point, but rather moved up the river to Cox’s Landing. Here they were off loaded and transported about 4 miles through Union lines near Fort Harrison to Boulware’s Wharf on the James River and handed over to Confederate authorities. The Confederates, likewise, handed over sick and wounded Union captives at Boulware’s Wharf to their Union counterparts. Paroled for exchange at the beginning of their journey, the returning “paroled prisoners of war” were loaded aboard steamboats at Boulware’s Wharf for the short run up the river to Richmond. Here they were examined in Confederate receiving hospitals. Those needing further medical attention were sent to other military hospitals in the Richmond area and treated. Those needing convalescent time were furloughed as a “paroled prisoner of war” to go home for 60 days. Those very few who were deemed fit to return to duty were sent to parole camps on the outskirts of Richmond, issued clothing, quickly declared exchanged and returned to their units.

Your ancestor’s record shows that he was paroled for exchange at Camp Morton on February 14, 1865, but not transferred for exchange until February 19th. Paroling was done before they were placed aboard the trains. The Army moved by “fits and starts” and the five day gap most likely had to do with available transportation to Baltimore. The deliveries of Confederate POWs took place during the first two weeks of March 1865. Due to weather conditions in Virginia, the chaos of the nearby war, and the eminent collapse of the Confederate defense of Richmond, the record keeping of these deliveries was confused and poorly done. The Union Commissary of Prisoners complained bitterly about this carelessness on the part of his own people. The Confederates were also under strain and many records created were subsequently lost. I have pieced this time line together from fragments of many POW records and corrrespondence in the Official Records.

I would assume from the information that you have provided that your ancestor was furloughed home for 60 days from a Richmond Confederate military hospital as a “paroled prisoner of war” and that he was at home when the end came. His parole given at Camp Morton would have still been good and satisfied Federal authorities under the Citronelle surrender agreement which, I believe, covered absentees at home.

You wrote: >>>That is the last bit of information listed on a card for him. However, I did find a notation separately that he was discharged from Camp Morton in March of 1865. <<<

You have to be careful about who wrote this “discharged from Camp Morton” comment. It is not contemporary with the creating of the CMSR (1880’s to 1900), and probably reflects someone else’s mis-interpretation of these records. It is highly unlikely that anyone was “discharged” (i.e. released on the spot) at Camp Morton in March 1865 without taking the Oath of Allegiance. It is much more likely that the scenario I have laid out for you above took place. Family traditions are not always correct!

Now, I’ll be happy to try and answer any questions you have.

Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society
Website: www.fortdelaware.org
E-Mail: society@fortdelaware.org