Pension boards made a distinction between oaths taken before and after the war ended. Oaths taken before the war end were usually administered to deserters who voluntarily entered Federal lines or were picked up along the line of march. There were other cases in which men took the oath of allegiance while in prisoner-of-war camp, most doing so to be released for Federal military service.

Oaths were administered to all Confederate prisoners-of-war still being held after the end of the war. These are dated from May and June 1865, and sometimes later, depending on the situation. Oaths administered under these circumstances could be considered obligatory, or forced. Pension boards (and other citizens of Alabama) would never consider attaching a stigma to such oaths.

Along these line, records for Zachariah C. Graham show that he entered Federal lines in Jackson County AL and turned himself over to the authorities at Larkinsville. He was received as a deserter on Oct. 22, 1864. Records show him as a resident of St. Clair County, six feet tall, blue eyes, brown hair, fair complexion. Graham was sent north to take the oath of allegiance at Nashville TN, which he did on Oct. 27, 1864. He would have then been released to remain north of the Ohio River until the end of hostilies.

On casual reflexion, if God had spared my life after going through all the ordeals Wheeler put his men through, most recently the disasterous raid through Tennessee (August-September 1864), I might have been of a good mind to do the same thing.