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This is a question that's always puzzled me. Perhaps I just haven't done enough research, but I've never found an adequate answer.
Scenario: a Confederate private is wounded on the battle field by a shot in the thigh and taken prisoner. After spending several weeks in a prison hospital, he is then transferred to a federal prison before being exchanged. He later returns to his original unit.
Question(s): What was he wearing when he was paroled? Common sense would say that he wouldn't still be wearing the same blood-soaked trousers with a bullet hole in the thigh. It's likely that his pants were even cut off of him before he could be treated. Would he have been given standard-issue federal trousers as a replacement? Or was there such a thing as a standard-issue prison uniform?
Scenario: a Confederate private is wounded on the battle field by a shot in the thigh and taken prisoner. After spending several weeks in a prison hospital, he is then transferred to a federal prison before being exchanged. He later returns to his original unit.
Question(s): What was he wearing when he was paroled? Common sense would say that he wouldn't still be wearing the same blood-soaked trousers with a bullet hole in the thigh. It's likely that his pants were even cut off of him before he could be treated. Would he have been given standard-issue federal trousers as a replacement? Or was there such a thing as a standard-issue prison uniform?