It was sad that some of the Confederate veterans, who later applied for pensions, were denied same based on lack of parole papers.
My great great uncle, William Carroll (W.C.) Minton appled for a pension in 1912, when he was in rather bad health. He had served with the 22nd (Barteau's) Tennessee Cavalry Regiment (also known as the 2nd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment), which was formed from the 7th Tennessee Cavalry (Bennett's). There were muster records showing his service up to 1863, with his unit involved in battles at Rienzi, Iuka, Monterey, and Courtland. In 1864, he was captured and paroled near Carthage, TN. The Tennessee Board of Pension Examiners would not issue him a pension, based on the fact that his unit was deployed in another area of Tennessee. Pvt Minton pointed out that he was sent with a detail to bring back deserters and recruit new personnel. He provided the names of an officer and an NCO who were also on the detail. Without an eye witness to the capture and parole, or a parole form, the board stated they could not issue him a pension, despite the earlier muster records and affidavits from his neighbors and fellow soldiers about his service. The last thing in his file is a letter he sent to a CPT George P. (or F.) Hager, asking him to write the board and verify his detached duty, capture and parole. He signed the letter with his name and in parenthesis ("or Goat", which must have been his nickname in the service. He apparentl died without receiving an answer and did not receive a pension. His widow then applied and was also denied a pension based on a lack of a written parole record showing his capture.
I'm sure this happened to other ex-servicemen, especially Confederates, with their lost and destroyed records and the turmoil in the later parts of the war.