Frederick:

It is my understanding that the POW delivery at Venus Point on the Savannah River in November 1864 was a onetime event.

The Dix-Hill Cartel, a general exchange agreement signed 22 JUL 1862, collapsed in the summer of 1863. Thereafter, all exchanges were special exchanges. “Beast” Butler (of all people!) was responsible for initiating a series of “humanitarian” exchanges in the fall of 1864 in which Confederate prisoners determined by a Union army surgeon as “likely to be unfit for 60 days” after being returned were selected for the exchange. The first of these men were paroled at Fort Delaware on 14 SEP 1864, sent off to the James River on 18 SEP 1864 and delivered to Confederate authorities at Aikens Landing on 22 SEP 1864. In early October, a smaller group was paroled at Fort Delaware and sent down to Point Lookout where more paroled prisoners were added to the shipment and the whole lot delivered at Cox’s Landing on 15 OCT 1864.

City Point ceased to be the main flag-of-truce and prisoner delivery point on the James River when General Butler launched his Bermuda Hundred campaign on 5 MAY 1864. Flag-of-truce contacts were temporarily resumed at Aikens Landing until the capture of Fort Harrison on 29 SEP 1864. POWs were delivered at Cox’s Landing in early October 1864 before the Federals extended their line from Fort Harrison down to a new earthwork they dubbed Fort Brady. Cox’s Landing was just east of Fort Brady and fell behind Union lines. A onetime delivery of some 3,000 sick and debilitated Confederate prisoners was made at Venus Point on 15 NOV 1864.

These “humanitarian” exchanges were resumed in February and March of 1865. The returning Confederate POWs were offloaded at Cox’s Wharf (Landing) and walked, or were hauled by wagon, via local roads through the Union lines to Boulware’s Wharf on the James River between the lines. The distance was described as being about 4 miles. Here they were placed aboard Confederate river steamers and taken up to Richmond. Those not obviously able bodied were examined at the Receiving and Wayside Hospital (General Hospital No. 9) in Richmond to determine if they needed further medical care and attention. Those deemed to be able bodied were sent to Camp Lee on the western outskirts of Richmond to receiving fresh clothing and await their declaration of exchange. Declared exchanged, they were returned to duty with their units in the field. Those men needing further medical attention were sent to military hospitals in the Richmond area. Those unfit for duty but able to travel were furloughed home in the status of paroled prisoners of war.

The exchange process was actually a three step process. The prisoner selected for exchange was first “paroled for exchange” meaning that he personally promised not to take up arms until properly exchanged. A parole is a sworn personal promise. The second step was “delivery” meaning that the prisoner was handed over to his own side as a “paroled prisoner of war”. The third step was supposed to be a formal (proper) declaration of exchange resulting from an official accounting process between the two sides. This accounting process got rather sloppy in the last year of the war. The Confederates continued to play the game and only declared exchanged those who could immediately return to duty and rejoin their units. The Union continued to ignore this nicety which was a holdover from the Dix-Hill Cartel. The Federals presumed that all released Confederate prisoners were forced back into the ranks, hence the adaptation of the "likely to be unfit for 60 days" selection rule.

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