28,231 parole passes such as the one above were printed and issued to Confederate Soldiers.
As stated, April 9, 1865 in the surrender terms, "The officers to
give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the
government of the United States until properly exchanged
and each company or regiment commander sign a like parole
for the men of their commands... This done, each officer and man
will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by United
States Authority so long as they observe their paroles and the laws
in force where they reside."
On the morning of April 10, 1865, Generals Lee and Grant had their
last meeting at Appomattox Court House. General Lee requested
that his men be given some type of evidence that they were
paroled prisoners to protect them from arrest or annoyance.
General Gibbon was ordered to arrange for a small printing
press to print blank parole forms. 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.
General Gibbon reported, "Rolls in duplicate had been prepared of the different commands and on the backs of these was placed a printed slot duly filled out and signed by General George H. Sharpe, the assistant provost marshal, each party keeping a copy. Such officers as did not belong to any particular organization, signed the parole for themselves. In addition, each officer and man, when he separated from his command, was given one of the paroles to which I have referred after it was properly filled out and signed by his immediate commanding officer."
joe_williams@nps.gov