Bryan Howerton
Two Parole Dates
Tue Apr 24 12:54:42 2001


Your explanation parallels the experience of Arkansas troops I've researched in the Army of Tennessee. Most of the Arkansas boys who survived to the end of the war have two parole cards in their CSR file. The first card usually states something to the effect that "Pvt. John Doe, 1st Arkansas Regiment, appears on a list of Confederate soldiers paroled at Greensboro, N.C., April 26th, 1865". This list was taken from the last muster roll of each regiment which surrendered (in many cases, the soldier's name is listed with remarks such as "absent, wounded", "absent on detached duty", etc. The second card has the date that each soldier signed his individual parole -- normally these are dated in the first week of May 1865 at various places in North Carolina.

Many Arkansas soldiers have three parole cards -- they were paroled a third time as they made their way back to Arkansas. Most of these paroles took place at various points in Tennessee -- Nashville and Memphis predominating -- where they were apparently detained by Federal authorities.