Raynors 2020-05 Putnal
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/30/2020
One partially printed page, 8.0" x 3.0", Appomattox Court House, Virginia, April 10, 1865, allowing "The Bearer...a Paroled Prisoner of the Army of Northern Virginia...permission to go to his house, and there to remain undisturbed." Printing of the parole passes was conducted under the direct supervision of the army's assistant provost marshal, Brig. Gen. George H. Sharpe, who established his headquarters in the village's 46-year-old Clover Hill Tavern. There, the process, which began on the afternoon of the 10th, continued well into the next day and possibly longer. After each printed sheet of paper slid off the press and dried, it was cut into three or four individual certificates, each, noted an artilleryman, "about the size of a blank check." The stacks of paroles were then bundled up for couriers who would hand-carry them to the waiting battalion and regimental commanders. As Private Percy Hawes recalled on the morning of April 11, "bright and early, there was a race between the cavalry, artillery, and infantry couriers to see which branch of the service should first get its parole and start home." Subsequently, once the passes were delivered, each commanding officer would fill in (often with help) and then sign the slips.
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