I have researched the question of parole and exchange for the Vicksburg garrison in some detail. Two of my great grandfathers and one of their brothers were captured and paroled there.

The Vicksburg garrison was captured on July 4, 1863, was paroled inside Vicksburg, and was then released "on parole" on July 11th to go beyond the Federal lines to where ever they might choose. Their "parole" given inside the lines before their release was both a written and oral promise personally made under oath by each captured Confederate to refrain from any military activies of any nature in support of the Confederacy until they were properly exchanged. The implied Federal promise was to leave these men alone should they encounter them in the future so long as they lived up to the terms of their parole promise.

Confederate authorities outside of Vicksburg immediately established "parole camps" at Enterprise, Mississippi and Demopolis, Alabama and tried to get the Vicksburg parolees into camp as quickly as possible. The Vicksburg garrison was released beginning on July 11, 1863 and most of those able to walk left that day. Exhausted from the 47 day siege, the Vicksburg parolees generally went directly home in spite of efforts by Confederate commanders to get them to Enterprise or Demopolis. Retrotactive "furloughs" were granted to cover their absence from parole camp. Eventually a substantial number of the Vicksburg and Port Hudson parolees [Port Hudson surrendered July 7, 1863] whose homes were east of the Missisippi River did report into Enterprise or Demopolis where they were declared exchanged by the Confederate Agent of Exchange [Lieutenant Colonel Robert Ould] in Richmond.

This unilateral declaration of exchange was made against a collection of "paroles in the field" which had accumulated in Colonel Ould's office since the signing of the Dix-Hill Cartel in July 1862. These "paroles in the field" represented captured Federal soldiers who had been released by the Confederates at or near their point of capture rather than haul them off to POW camps. A good example of this concept of "paroles in the field" was the release of the Harper's Ferry garrison on parole in September 1862. General A. P. Hill was left behind by General Jackson to parole the Harper's Ferry garrison and only arrived at Antietam at the end of the battle. A copy of the signed written paroles collected at Harper's Ferry were sent to Richmond to be accounted for in future exchanges.

Colonel Ould exhausted his collection of "paroles in the field" before he could declare all of the Vicksburg and Port Hudson garrisons exchanged. From my research, it appears that he did not declare exchanged any parolee without having a "parole in the field" to charge against the exchange. Those parolees who had crossed the Mississippi River and gone home to Louisiana or other parts of the Trans-Mississippi were not declared exchanged until the summer of 1864 when Federal prisoners captured from General Bank's army during the 1864 Red River Campaign were available to make the exchange.

During the spring and summer of 1863, the Federal government embarked upon a "war of attrition" strategy based upon their belief that exchanged Confederates generally returned to duty, while exchanged Federal soldiers did not. Given the vast untapped manpower pool of the northern states, the Federal government didn't need their own captives anyway and, as prisoners of war, they became expendable. The Dix-Hill Cartel was viewed as a bad deal for the Union cause from the beginning.

By mid 1863, the "released on parole" provisions of the Dix-Hill Cartel were being ignored by the Federals. The Federals began insisting upon a physical "man for man" exchange at the delivery point and pointedly ignored those Union soldiers already "released on parole" but not yet "properly exchanged" who were already at home in the northern states. The U. S. War Department cried "foul" when the Confederates declared a sizable portion of the Vicksburg and Port Hudson garrisons exchanged against "paroles in the field" in the fall of 1863.

General Grant's forces captured a significant number of exchanged Vicksburg and Port Hudson parolees during the fighting around Chattanooga in late 1863. Grant had hoped and expected that the Vicksburg parolees would go home and thereafter stay out of the war. To a considerable degree, his hopes were realized. But after Chattanooga, even Grant became an opponent of future exchanges.

Understanding this whole issue of paroles and exchanges is a tedious business, but I hope this response will help you interpret your Vicksburg ancestor's war experiences a little more clearly.

Hugh Simmons
Fort Delaware Society