On 29 May 1865 President Johnson issued an amnesty proclamation which cited
the failure of many to take advantage of Lincoln's earlier proclamations and
noted that many others had been unable  to do so because of their
participation in the rebellion after the promulgation of the December 1863
amnesty. Unless a person was a member of the 14 classes of excepted from
general amnesty, no oath, pardon or parole would have been necessary after
the end of the war. The exceptions (somewhat paraphrased) were:

The first six were a part of Lincoln's December 1863 amnesty proclamation:
1) Civil or diplomatic agents or officials.
2) Persons who left judicial posts to serve the South
3) Confederate officers above the rank of Army colonel or Navy Lieutenant
4) Members of the U.S. Congress who left to serve the South
5) Persons who resigned commissions in the U.S. Army or Navy and afterwards
aided in the rebellion
6) Persons who treated unlawfully black prisoners and their white officers.

A March 1864 supplementary proclamation added:

7) Persons in military or civilian confinement or custody.

Johnson added:
8) Individuals who had left the U.S. to fight for the South.
9) USMA or USNA graduates who served as Confederate officers.
10) Ex-Confederate Governors
11) Persons who left the North for the purpose of aiding the rebellion
12) Persons who engaged in destruction of commerce on the high seas or in
raids from Canada.
13) Voluntary participants in the rebellion who had property valued at over
$20,000
14) Persons who had broken the oath taken in December 1863.

People who fell into any of these categories were required to apply for a
special pardon. The records of the original applications with letters and
statements of the 20,000 men to apply are found on seventy-two rolls of
microfilm in the National Archives, M1003, Pardon Petitions and Related
Papers Submitted in Response to President Andrew Johnson's Amnesty
Proclamation of May 29, 1865 ("Amnesty Papers"),

Lists of persons pardoned are also contained in:

House Executive Document No. 31, 39th Congress, 2nd Session, serial 1289
House Executive Document No. 116, 39th Congress, 2nd Session, serial 1293
House Executive Document No. 32, 40th Congress, 1st Session, serial 1311
House Executive Document No. 99, 39th Congress, 2nd Session, serial 1263
House Executive Document No. 16, 40th Congress, 2nd Session

The serial set can be found in the Government Documents section of The
Library of Virginia.

Copies of this material have been published as "Special Presidential Pardons
of Confederate Soldiers, 2 volumes. Signal Mountain, Tenn.: Mountain Press,
1999.  The joy of this work is that it is unlike the microfilm or the serial
set; indexed.

Given that Richard D. Hendricks did not fit into any of the excepted
categories, he would have been under normal circumstances paroled at the
time of his surrender and allowed to go home. The fact he was stranded by
Union troops probably does not relate to his parole and he was just a victim
of Yankee circumstance.


Craig R. Scott, CGRS

Willow Bend Books
65 East Main Street
Westminster, MD 21157-5026
[log in to unmask]
www.WillowBendBooks.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brent Tarter" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, February 08, 2002 8:15 AM
Subject: Re: Oath of Allegiance - any consolidated records?


> I'm very far from being an expert on the details of oaths of allegiance,
but
> I have found instances in which men who had been in the army and were not
> paroled at the time of a surrender have subsequently applied for
> presidential pardons.
>
> One place to look would be in the alphabetical files of the collection
> called Virginia Case Files for United States Pardons, 1865-1867, United
> States Office of the Adjutant General, Record Group 94, National Archives
> and Records Administration.
>
> Brent Tarter
> The Library of Virginia
> [log in to unmask]
>
> Visit the Library of Virginia's web site at http://www.lva.lib.va.us
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Wm. Hendricks [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 08 February, 2002 8:01 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Oath of Allegiance - any consolidated records?
>
>
> List,
>
>     Does anybody on this list know if there is a consolidated record of
> CSA soldiers who took the Oath of Allegiance? My G-grandfather Richard
> D Hendricks was a private in the King William Artillery(Carter's
> Battery), Carter's Battalion, Rhodes Division. On his pension form #2
> application, dated may 12 1908, - question- When did you leave the
> service, and under what circumstances. Ans... Near Mt Airy NC
> surrender.
>
>     According to Richard's Service Record  - Company Muster Roll for
> Oct. 31 1864 to Feb. 28 1865, dated Feb. 28, 1865 - Absent - On
> Detached Service - Detailed as a Teamster.
>
>     Family history has him as stopped by Union Troops near the state
> line on present day rt 103(between Stuart Va & Mt Airy NC), they took
> his wagon and horses(or mules) and left him stranded.
>
>     Could he have surrendered and released without a O of A ? I
> know of no record, either in his regimental rosters, pension files, or
> Service Record that show him as having taken the Oath.

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