Grierson's prisoners were shipped by steamer to the Union prison camp at Alton, Illinois, where the claims of the "galvanized Yankees" that they desired restoration to their original units were investigated. Major General Dodge recommended on March 5, 1865, that all the former Union soldiers as well as a number of Confederate troops be enlisted in the U.S. Volunteers for service in the West. The recommendation for clemency was resisted by the Judge Advocate General's Office in Washington, D.C., which advocated that the former Union soldiers be tried for desertion, citing testimony from Union officers at Egypt Station that they resisted at the battle until their ammunition was exhausted. Dodge's recommendation was accepted, however, and the prisoners were permitted to enlist in the 5th and 6th U.S. Volunteers.