Following the surrender of the Trans-Mississippi Department, Union forces established parole centers in a half dozen or so town in Louisiana. Confederate soldiers were expected to go to the closest place to sign their paroles. When they did so, they stated their place of residence, which was then entered on their parole paper and on the list of parolees. Because so many Louisiana units had disbanded prior to the surrender, a large number of soldiers had already gone home. Thus they reported to a parole center that was not necessarily close to where their unit had been when it disbanded. Soldiers from other armies (Northern Virginia, Tennessee, etc.) who had gone home prior to the surrender of those armies and had not been paroled with them were expected to report to a parole center near their homes. The final parole lists are a real hodge-podge of soldiers and units and generally have no relationship to the units that had been stationed at or near the parole centers.