Several hundred refused to sign their paroles, preferring to be sent to the North as prisoners to being sent back to fight again.

Others again kept out of the way, hoping to escape either alternative.
Pemberton appealed to me in person to compel these men to sign their paroles, but I declined.

It also leaked out that many of the men who had signed their paroles, intended to desert and go to their homes as soon as they got out of our lines.

Pemberton hearing this, again appealed to me to assist him.

He wanted arms for a battalion, to act as guards in keeping his men together while being marched to a camp of instruction, where he expected to keep them until exchanged.