My impression is that a furlough of indulgence was a general furlough, granted at the indulgence of the issuing authority, as contrasted with a sick or wound furlough, granted as a matter of necessity at the instance of a medical officer. In looking at both the muster rolls and correspondence/orders in the Official Records, there does not seem to be any official sanction for something akin to compassionate leave. Obviously, however, a man with serious problems at home might get special consideration from his company officers in recommending a furlough. But in the requests which I have seen for furloughs because of the illness or death of a family member at home, I cannot recall seing the term "indulgence" used, in any way separate from a request for a furlough. They simply ask for a furlough.

Someone who has access to the U. S. Army Regulations as they existed prewar might be able to address this question more accurately than I. The Confederate War Department generally adopted the standing regularions and orders of the Old Army when it created the Provisional Army in 1861, so that it would be a good bet that whatever rules were in force in the Old Army would have been adopted by the Confederacy.