Based on frequent questions like this, people commonly misunderstand service record cards labeled Prison of War. Records of Confederate paroles and imprisonments were kept by the military department. When War Department clerks prepared Confederate service files a century or so ago, all were labeled as Prisoner of War records.

As you mentioned in your post, soldiers simply rode or walked in to a Federal military post and signed a parole. The soldier kept one copy, while other was retained for official purposes. If a soldier violated his parole, for instance, he could be imprisoned and sentenced to death.

In any case, these men were not held in a prison camp.

There are another couple of issues with these cards. One concerns soldiers surrendered as part of an army, say for instance Johnston's army in North Carolina or Taylor's in Alabama, Mississippi and East Louisiana. The agreement under which the soldier surrendered is listed at the top of the card, while the actual site of the parole is listed below.

For instance, many soldiers east of the Mississippi were surrendered under the agreement reached at Citronelle, Ala., May 2, 1865. The only Confederates present were General Taylor, a staff officer, and they only agreed to a surrender. Actual paroles were received later at a wide variety of sites, beginning on May 9, 1865.

Yet we read posts about someone's ancestor surrendering at Citronelle. Some say I'm splitting hairs on this. Maybe, but consider that few if any of these soldiers knew where or when Taylor made the agreement. Most of them never heard of Citronelle or ever went there. If we could talk with Confederate veterans about their wartime experiences, they probably would not recognize the name and would need some explanation from us.

There are a couple of other POW issues, but they can wait for another occasion.