“With Burning Tears”
THE APPOMATTOX PAROLES BY D. A. SERRANO
“With Burning Tears”
THE APPOMATTOX PAROLES By D. A. Serrano
T
he old General didn’t need to con
3pm April 9th, 1865 the formal surrender
template any longer. He had made
was concluded at the Mclean House in the
his decision hours before prior to this at-
village of Appomattox Court House. The
tack. Any failure at this critical point would confederate soldiers that had been previmean one thing, surrender. The fog that
ously captured on the retreat from Peters-
had hung low on the ground that morning
burg and at Sailors Creek were already
had lifted and General Gordon reported to
on their way to Fort Delaware and Point
Lee without mincing words, “I’ve fought
Lookout as prisoners. But Grant knew that
my corps to a frazzle” the breakout assault with General Lee’s capitulation it would had failed and the once magnificent Army
be the beginning of the end to organized
of Northern Virginia was outnumbered,
resistance in the South and there would
exhausted and almost entirely surrounded. be no need to accumulate more soldiers in For the most part the Civil War was over. That sunny afternoon at approximately
overcrowded Northern prisons. The Confederate army would be “paroled” and sent
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This typical parole master list notes all the staff officers of Mahone’s Division. The surrender terms are attached as a preamble to the signatures. In addition to the individual paroles these lists were produced in duplicate, one for the Federals and one for the Confederates. The Confederate list was personally kept by Robert Ould the Confederate officer in charge of prisoner exchanges. Ould later turned them over to the Southern Historical Society. The Confederate copies, some 667 separate sheets of various sizes now reside in the Museum of the Confederacy. Image courtesy the author.
home. There were still formidable armies
1863 and most had returned to the ranks
in the field who were not encompassed in
once released. But all the principles in
this surrender and hypothetically, if the
this Virginia drama from general to private
war continued these Army of Northern Vir-
knew that this surrender would be unique
ginia troops could be exchanged for their
and final.
like Union counterparts and resume the
The next morning General Lee was noti-
fight. General Grant had paroled twenty
fied that Grant requested another meeting
three thousand soldiers at Vicksburg in
between the lines and Lee quickly com-
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John A. Pinnix was still a teenager when his unit the 11th North Carolina Infantry surrendered 8 officers and 74 men at Appomattox. He later became a physician and one of the most respected men in Caswell County. His funeral was attended by over 2,000 of his friends and neighbors. His obituary stated, “Dr. Pinnix was a zealous Confederate. But when the war was over he emulated Robert E. Lee and gave ardent and sincere devotion to the Union.” Image courtesy Caswell County Historical Society. plied. Grants pretense was simple and to
These passes or more succinctly “paroles”
the point. Would Lee take the initiative to
would primarily have a twofold purpose. It
compel what was left of other Confederate
would not only allow the man on his way
government and armed forces to surren-
home unmolested passage through lines
der? Lee’s thoughts and ambitions were
held by different armies, but also could
never on that grand a scale and he was
be used to secure food and transportation
averse to “stepping beyond the duties of
from some of those same armies that a
a soldier.” This was a man that did not
few weeks prior they were trying to kill.
covet power and prestige but shied away
And lastly and infrequently discussed, it
from it. That morning his thoughts were
would compel the rebel soldiers to remain
only for his men and their safety. The issue with their commands and formally surrenof a safe pass to each individual soldier
der and stack arms before receiving the
that would differentiate his men as non-
pass.
combatants while traveling home through
Officers were designated from each
territory held by different armies whether
army to facilitate the details of surrender.
Federal or Confederate was agreed on.
On the Federal side Generals Griffin, Gib-
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bon and Merritt were put to the task of
pomattox. Gibbon was ordered to arrange
receiving the surrendered arms and equip- for a small printing press to print blank ment and the printing and issuing of the pa- parole forms. He wrote, “My corps press roles. The parole documents would consist was at once set to work to print off the of master lists made out in duplicate, one
requisite number of blank paroles but it
set for each army with the name and rank
soon became apparent that our few print-
of the soldier and signed by his command-
ers would speedily break down at the task,
ing officer. The Confederate army would
some 30,000 blanks being required. The
produce approximately 677 individual unit
Adjutant General reported that the press
lists primarily broken down by division,
would have to be run all night and prob-
brigade and regiment. An additional paper ably all the next day. I, therefore, directed pass signed by the commanding officer of
him to send out and make a detail of the
each unit would be given to each individual necessary numbers of printers to supply attesting to their status as a paroled pris-
relays for the press until the job was fin-
oner.
ished. This was done; we obtained all the
U.S. General John Gibbon was given command of the printing operation at Ap-
printers we wanted and the next day the paroles were ready for distribution”. General George Sharpe supervised the operation, which was carried out at the Clover Hill Tavern. Printing began the afternoon of the 10th and continued from daylight to a late hour each night through the 15th. The total number of officers and men paroled was 28,231.
An Adams Cottage Press was most likely the devise used to print the paroles at the Clover Hill Tavern. The Adams press, which breaks into two parts and can be carried by one person, was patented and advertised in 1861 as making “every man his own printer.” The manufacturer suggested “merchants, druggists and all business men” could use the press. Image courtesy NPS Appomattox Court House. w w w. c o n f e d e r a t e p l a n e t . c o m
James Mercer Garnett started the war in the Rockbridge Artillery and later became an ordinance officer. His parole was signed by General Bryan Grimes (left) who was the last Major General appointed in the Confederate Army. Grimes met a tragic end in 1880 at the hands of an assassin who was later lynched by an angry mob of the Generals friends. Courtesy UNC Library and Library of Virginia.
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Confederate engineer Charles H. Dimmock was responsible for the fortifications around Petersburg and was on the staff of General Lee. His parole is signed by Walter Taylor in Lee’s name. After the war Dimmock was the city engineer of Richmond. He died in 1873. Image courtesy Shem Library, College of William and Mary.
The parole pass of Sgt. Benjamin Holly Woodford is of a third variant style that is rarely encountered and was never issued at Appomattox. It was produced by Union General Winfield S. Hancock for paroling Confederate troops in the Shenandoah Valley and copied the format and design of the Appomattox paroles. Sgt. Woodford was from Pocahontas County in present day West Virginia and served in the 62nd Virginia Mounted Infantry. He surrendered at Staunton to General Issac H. Duval and possibly traveled to Winchester to receive this parole. These Valley paroles are on unlined paper and have a wavy line border on the left and the typeface has some slight variations but is identical in wording. Image courtesy NPS Appomattox Court House. w w w. c o n f e d e r a t e p l a n e t . c o m
Typical of the many veterans of Lee’s army, Samuel Gideon Marsh saved his parole with honor and pride after the surrender. He participated in every battle his company the Brown Rifles, 3rd Georgia Infantry fought in, only missing 24 days of service. After the war Marsh wrote of the retreat, “[We were] engaged every day for eight days fighting more or less every day until the surrender.” The 3rd Georgia participated in over 50 engagements during the war and surrendered 235 officers and men at Appomattox, a remarkably large number for a Confederate unit at that time. The reverse of Marsh’s parole shows one ration issued April 24th and a quartermaster’s stamp in Columbia South Carolina on the 28th. The proud veteran passed away in 1920 at the Confederate Veterans Home in Atlanta. Courtesy Duane Russell
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Surgeon John H. Stevens was the chief medical officer of the second corps under John B. Gordon. In later years Gordon recounted, “They carefully preserved their paroles, and were as proud of them as a young graduate is of his diploma, because these strips of paper furnished official proof of the fact that they were in the fight to the last. This fact they transmit as a priceless legacy to their children.” Image courtesy NPS Appomattox Court House.
These 8 1/2” by 3 1/2” parole passes
federate soldiers and most show signs of
were printed four to a sheet identical in
many folds and tears from constant use on
every way except the left hand borders
the way home, evidence of their necessity
which were of two distinct styles. The
for the drawing of rations and transporta-
paper used was common blue lined stock
tion from the Federals. And as the old vet-
much like children’s notebook paper of
erans aged, shown with pride to children
today. Some passes show irregular scissor
and grandchildren, proof of their valor and loyalty to the very end. ❦
cuts and others clean slices. Once printed, they were distributed to individual Confederate units and filled out by the officer in
The author of this modest article wishes to
charge of that particular command. Many
thank Patrick Schroeder and Joseph
regiments were being led by mere captains
Williams of the NPS Appomattox Court
by this time and are reflected in the signa-
House for their advice and help.
tures. The passes were coveted by the Con-
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PROLUGE General Grant has often been lauded for the generous surrender terms he offered Lee. Whether magnanimous or just practical, his main purpose was to disarm the Army of Northern Virginia as quickly as possible. Many in the Union believed the terms too liberal and that the Confederates should be harshly punished. The New York Times reported a few days later, “A large number of officers, together with thousands of the men of this army, express their dissatisfaction not only at the unprecedented liberality granted to the Army of Northern Virginia, but at the manner in which they were paroled and allowed to go their way, without our men being permitted to enjoy the results of their long struggle”. Grant told a congressional committee in 1867 that the surrender terms “were a purely military contention that protected the lives of the surrendered soldiers so long as they observed their paroles. Image courtesy Library of Congress.
References. The Appomattox Paroles. Nine and Wilson. H.E. Howard Publishers. The Appomattox Roster. R.A.Brook. Southern Historical Society Papers. Appomattox, Victory, Defeat, and Freedom at the End of the Civil War. Elizabeth R. Varon. Oxford Univ. Press. “We Are All To Be Paroled” John M. Coski. Museum of the Confederacy Magazine, Fall 2011. War Talk of Confederate Veterans. Geo. S Bernard. Fenn and Owen Publishers. Recollections of Appomattox. John Gibbon. Century Magazine, Vol. 62.
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