Thanks Hugh and David for your response.

The 9th Alabama had 218 men who were captured during the war (not counting those who deserted), and almost half of those were at Gettysburg (they had a real bad Day Two). The vast majority of those captured at that battle (who were not wounded) were sent by train to Westminster, MD and then to Ft. McHenry in Baltimore, before boarding ships to Fort Delaware. From that prison, the officers were sent on to Johnson's Island, OH. Later men were transferred to Point Lookout, MD, where most were parole between May and July 1865. Some, however, took the oath and were paroled before the surrender at Appomattox. A case in point was William Patton of Company D, who was captured at Gettysburg and was eventually sent to Fort Delaware on 7/6/1863. He was later transferred to Point Lookout where he was paroled on 10/19/1864. He was not wounded and was not exchanged. Why would someone be paroled and released at that time?

My question is if a soldier takes the oath and is paroled, if he is then released, is it unconditional or with the understanding that he does not return to his unit and fight again? Can you be paroled without taking an oath? Did these men go home, and if they did, were they paroled again at home? Who kept those parole records- the state or the county? There are a number of 9th Alabama soldiers who are in this category where there is no final disposition. There are, on the other hand, two soldiers from the 9th who were captured, paroled in late 1864 and returned to the front lines in Petersburg.

I thought it might be poor or incomplete record keeping, but then I noticed that the soldiers who deserted to the enemy had very specific records as to where they were imprisoned, where they took the oath and were paroled, and where they were sent afterwards. Almost two dozen men of the 9th who deserted to the enemy were paroled to go north to Philadelphia, PA for the war. The same kind of record detail applied to the soldiers who were exchanged.

Any ideas would be appreciated.