Thanks for your question. It was important for both parties to keep a record, so it seems that duplicates were made on the spot. When these duplicates survived among prisoner-of-war papers, they have been microfilmed along with the soldier's other records, but these are not nearly as common as card entries from the register books.

Aside from its use as a "get out of jail free" card, the parole could also be used for transportation. A paroled soldier could present his parole to a Federal quartermaster and receive passage to a station near home aboard a ship or train. Federal officers sometimes endorsed the reverse to indicate its use for that purpose.