Pres. Lincoln and Alec Stephens Agreement at the Hampton Roads Peace Conference

[David Lockmiller]

(04-07-2017 05:13 PM)Steve Wrote:  

(04-07-2017 04:15 PM)David Lockmiller Wrote:  Steve,

Thanks for this information. The first item appears to be in the handwriting of Lieutenant John A. Stephens in which he promises not to divulge any Union military intelligence gained during the term of his time in Washington. Many years later, his son seems to be referring to a physical exchange of prisoners being made at or near the line between the opposing military factions.

David,
I only meant that Stephens would have been considered an exchanged soldier immediately when he crossed the lines where he could then join a Confederate unit instead of going to a Confederate parole camp or something similar and then waiting to be "officially exchanged".
If you look closely at the letter, Stephens' signature is in different handwriting than the rest of the letter. I think it was written out for him and told to sign it.

Thanks again. You are correct about the handwriting being different. He probably had to sign the letter if he wanted to leave the prison.

But President Lincoln must have been absolutely clear with Lieutenant Stephens in the White House on February 10, 1865. The terms of the agreement were written in Lincoln's hand; Lieutenant Stephens saw Lincoln write the words; Lincoln failed to blot the words, but the words on the note were clearly readable. Lincoln also handed Lieutenant Stephens papers that were the authority for him to pass through the Union lines into Confederate territory near Richmond. Lincoln expected Lieutenant Stephens to return to Richmond and deliver the note to his uncle, the Vice-President of the Confederacy Alexander Hamilton Stephens. Lincoln expected his friend to honor the agreement that had been made between the two men on the night of February 3, 1865. Clearly, Alexander Stephens knew nothing of Lincoln's note until he met with his nephew at the family reunion in early May, 1865.

In 1943, the son of John A. Stephens wrote that his father was "not paroled, but duly exchanged.” An exchange means to me that a prisoner held by the Union was yielded in exchange for a prisoner or prisoners held by the Confederacy. [as previously posted by me, "one officer would be exchanged for three privates or one officer of equal rank, presumably"].

I did not understand the term "paroled" as used in the Civil War. So, I "googled" the word and found this response to the question:

It was an honor system early in the war that actually worked. Paroled meant you sat out the war someplace and did not participate until you were "exchanged" for a prisoner or paroled prisoner from the other side.

An interesting "parole" fact - the Union had a camp near Annapolis, Maryland where soldiers on parole were housed until they were exchanged and sent back to their units to fight (my gggrandfather and ggggrandfather went this route). The camp ultimately became a town, and it exists today, and it's called Parole, Maryland.

In short, for President Lincoln, as the poet Robert Burns wrote in "To a Mouse": “The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft a-gley.”