James......thanks very much for your answer. After reading the honor bound oath of captives released on parole, and the manner in which the men were allowed to spend their time while awaiting formal exchange, The word "consoles" in the letter is likely the intended word.

It is very difficult for me to transcribe a letter over 140 years after it was written to get the correct terms used by the writer because many of the words used in the 1860 time period have become obsolete in the present day. The photo copy of the letter is very poor and combined with handwriting that is some cases written while in the field using a tree stump for a desk makes it difficult to transcribe the correct word.

It would likely be more difficult for a transcriber in 1860 to understand a personal letter that might be written by a person living in 2008.

Again thank you very much for your assistance.