The Alabama in the Civil War Message Board

Lt. Geo. A. Gilbert 'F' Co., 9th AL Inf

I looking for information on 1st Lieut. George A. Gilbert 'F' Co., 9th AL Infantry. According to his service file in the National Archives he was granted a 'leave of indulgence' on 04 Feb 1865. This is the last record for him in his file. He is not listed on the roles of those who were paroled at Appomattox. In his file at the Alabama Civil War Service Database he is listed as being paroled in 1865.

Last week while searching the internet on a completely unrelated subject I stumbled across the civil war dairy of Drayton Chandler a private in a South Carolina Regiment in Holcolme's Legion. He was a prisoner of war at Point Lookout, MD from 11 Nov 1864 until he was paroled and released on 25 June 1865.

On the last page of the diary he lists six soldiers and their units he was with while at Point Look, MD. One of the six is “Geo. A. Gilbert, 'F' Co., 9th Ala.” I would have thought that officers and enlisted prisoners would have been kept separate, but maybe not, especially towards the end of the war. Further research shows that George A. Gilbert and Drayton Chandler were 2nd cousins.

So I have two questions:

1) What was a 'leave of indulgence', what was it granted for, how long did it last, and how hard was it to get?

2) Is there a list of prisoners of war that were held at Point lookout, MD or a list of those who were paroled there at the end of the war? I have found some links to a site where this information is supposed to be found at the University of Michigan but when I get there it says the page does not exist.

PS: 1st Lieut. George A. Gilbert 'F' Co., 9th AL Infantry was the youngest brother of Maj. Thomas Henry Gilbert and Van Buren Gilbert of the 26th/50th AL Infantry.