Yankees who believe they hold the moral high ground should read about the treatment of Confederate soldiers in Yankee prisons, such as Point Lookout and Elmira, New York. The North had food and medical supplies to give the prisoners but withheld them because the South did not have the same supplies to give to Yankee prisoners (in part because of the Yankee blockade). If this had happened in these days and times, the North would be convicted of war crimes.
Exchanging prisoners would have saved the lives of many men on both sides but General Grant and Secretary of War Stanton stopped the ongoing exchange because the Southern soldiers reenlisted right back in their units while the Yankee soldiers just went home.
Signing a parole and then taking up arms again is dishonorable, isn't it?
Walt