I have seen little to no evidence of paroles being given to soldiers in the IT after Kirby Smith surrendered the Trans-Miss. Dept. on May 26, 1865. Supposedly Cooper surrendered the "white troops" and the indians, claiming to be independent allies of the Conf., opted to make their own deals with the Feds. There were at least 1500 whites serving with the Cherokees at the close of the war and likely that many combined with the other tribes. (A fair percentage of those whites were adopted citizens of the tribes.) My question is: Were the white troops just disbanded and sent home or was there some process to parole those soldiers? I continue to be suspicious that the NA has records from the IT that have not been cataloged and included in any of their inventories, guides, etc.