The men who surrendered and were paroled at Wittsburg (May 25, 1865) and Jacksonport (June 5, 1865) were not captured prisoners of war. Their regiments were included in a special cartel negotiated between Maj. Gen. Grenville M. Dodge (representing the U.S. Department of the Missouri) and Brig. Gen. M. Jefferson Thompson (representing the C.S. Northern Sub-District of Arkansas) to facilitate the surrender of the remaining Confederate forces in northeast Arkansas. Some of the Confederate regiments were still in the field; some had been furloughed and the men sent home. Orders were sent out for the active regiments and furloughed men to assemble at Wittsburg and Jacksonport to be surrendered and paroled. They were not prisoners up to that time.