Might have him, but it is supposition. I have a Sanford West "B" 36th Iowa, who is listed on the QM records as having died with no death date given. The same person is also listed as being exchanged in the February 25, 1865 exchange. There are numerous references to people switching identities with dear prisoners, but I have never confirmed one. It might be worthwhile to check out West's records and see what they show. Whoever it was, he only made an "X" on the signature blank on the exchange roll.

As to the prison records, I looked at what purported to be the inmate records several years ago, and found no names. My thoughts would be that they would have been kept in a separate journal from regular prisoners, but there was nothing that I found. The Criminal Justice Department is still somewhat proprietary with their information.

However, a second look is always worth while. At some point I looked through the regimental record books of the 1st Arkansas [Colored] and found one notation of a prisoner who had been captured at Mound Plantation rejoining his regiment in June of '65, and he had been released at Huntsville, Tx, which sure sounds like he had been at the prison. Another quest has been that of black naval prisoners. According to a letter from Crocker, there were 27 black sailors that were not released in the naval exchange, but "held to labor" at Camp Ford. I have never been able to identify them.

Thanks for the compliment. I have spent years working on this. There are 5,472 names in the data base, and my estimate is that it is about 99 percent accurate. You can probably never identify all of the "flyer" prisoners, but it is information that comes from sources like you that help fill in the holes.

Randy