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“Confederate prisoners of war amount to no more than dead men”… Ulysses S. GrantWhen war broke out between the North and the South, neither side was prepared to manage thousands of prisoners, most especially the South. The result was hastily-prepared prisons and camps which soon were filled past capacity. The result was suffering and death at a rate that surpassed battlefield deaths. The POW camps essentially became concentration camps.During the war the number of Union and Confederate soldiers in prisoner-of-war prisons and camps would reach an astonishing one and a half million men. At the onset of the war the United States did not recognize the legitimacy of the Confederate States and refused to establish a system that allowed for a formal prisoner exchange. Finally, on July 22, 1862 the US signed a Prisoner exchange cartel with the CSA, and by September of that year prison populations were almost emptied. However, as the war dragged on the US government had increasing distrust for the Confederate government and stopped the prisoner exchanges in June 1863, less than a year after it had signed the exchange agreement.While it lasted the cartel prescribed exchanges on the following basis:1 general = 46 privates1 major general = 40 privates1 brigadier general = 20 privates1 colonel = 15 privates1 lieutenant colonel = 10 privates1 major = 8 privates1 captain = 6 privates1 lieutenant = 4 privates1 noncommissioned officer = 2 privatesEqual rank = 1 for 1There were over 150 prison camps North and South during the war. As the Union army overran Confederate prisons during the course of the war, they then used them as Union prisons. This is why some Confederate prisons are listed as Union prison camps in the latter days. POW camps were established all along the East Coast as far north as Boston, as far south as Dry Tortugas Island off Key West, Florida, and as far west as Fort Riley, Kansas, and Fort Craig, New Mexico. The death rate in all the prisons amounted to nearly 13% of the total confined. The 150 prisons can be grouped into 7 classes as follows:Existing jails and prisons- first to come into use, ranged in size from small city jails to medium-sized county jails to large state prisons.Coastal fortifications- second to be pressed into use, mostly in the North, were forts along the Atlantic Ocean.Old buildings converted into prisons- used mainly in the South.Barracks enclosed by high fences- these were groups of wooden buildings on a large plot of land previously used as recruitment and basic-training. High fences were later built around the camps to enclose/confine the prisoners. These existed mostly in the North.Clusters of tents enclosed by high fences - one of the cheapest types.Barren stockades- cheapest and worst of the 7 types. Exclusively used in the South.Barren ground- nothing more than gathering of prisoners in a field or clearing surrounded with a guardline.After the prisoner exchange stopped in ‘63, the need for more and larger prisons caused the creation of the two most infamous POW camps of the war…Elmira in the North, and Andersonville in the South. By ’64, the war was creating extreme hardship on the South. Food was in short supply and the ability to grow it fast diminishing. Starvation was an increasing threat to the Southern people, her army, and the army’s prisoners. Soon, exaggerated reports reached Washington of the Confederacy intentionally starving its POW’s. On June 1, an order from US Secretary of War Stanton called for a 20% reduction in rations for all POW’s in Northern camps. In some Northern camps, this was reduced even more to half rations, which usually consisted of a small piece of hard tack and stale bread twice a day. At the end of the war Colonel William Hoffman, Commissary General of Prisoners, returned $1,845,126 to the US Treasury, money that should have been used to house, feed, clothe, and medically treat Confederate prisoners. The U.S. government’s own statistics show that more Confederates died in Union POW camps than Union soldiers in Confederate camps.Union Prisons and CampsElmira (Hellmira)Located in west central New York State, just a few miles above the Pennsylvania line amid a lush farming area, this camp started out as Camp Chemung, a recruiting and training camp for Union troops. It was strategically located near railroad lines and the Chemung Canal connecting the town of Elmira to the Erie Canal. With the increased load on existing POW camps, the War Department selected it to be a new camp for Confederate prisoners. The existing transportation routes made it a natural destination for sending prisoners captured in Northern Virginia, beginning in July, 1864.From the beginning, Elmira was plagued with problems. The barracks were estimated to be able to accommodate 4000 prisoners. Over 12,000 prisoners would be sent to Elmira over the next 9 months. Tents were utilized to shelter the overflow as the barracks quickly became overcrowded. Another problem was lack of hospital facilities. Construction started on the hospital about the same time prisoners started arriving and was not completed until September.A major factor contributing to rampant disease at Elmira was Foster’s pond, located near the prisoner barracks. A federal inspector cited this pond in July as a potential problem and recommended it be drained. Nothing was done. With the overcrowding and unsanitary conditions, the pond soon became stagnated and contaminated the water supply. Scurvy and dysentery were chronic problems, contributing to the nearly 3000 deaths among the Confederates. The death rate was almost 25%.Camp Douglas (The North’s Andersonville)Located at Chicago, Illinois and named after Senator Stephen A. Douglas, it started in 1861 as a training camp for Union soldiers. It became a POW camp in 1862, and was first used to detain Confederate prisoners until they could be exchanged. During ’62, most of the Confederate prisoners there were from Ft. Donelson. Camp Douglas became a permanent POW camp in January, ’63 when prisoners arrived from the Battle of Stones River and capture of Ft. Hineman. On Feb. 2, Commanding General Amman reported that many of the prisoners were too sick to endure the conditions of the camp. Washington made no reply and took no action. During that month 387 prisoners out of 3884 died. By the time they were released some sources suggest between 1400 and 1700 of these early ’63 prisoners died from smallpox, pneumonia, typhoid fever, or were shot.An unusual use of the POW camp took place in the fall of ’62. Stonewall Jackson paroled the 8000 prisoners he took at Harpers Ferry on Sept 15. Under the terms of the parole, the prisoners were sent to Camp Douglas and held as prisoners alongside Confederate prisoners until exchanges were completed by the end of Nov. However, close to 100 of them had died by that time.The last commander of the camp, Col. B.J. Sweet, denied any fruit or vegetables to the prisoners and has been blamed for the rampant spread of scurvy among prisoners during his tenure. In ’64 Sweet put the entire city of Chicago under martial law in response to a threat that civilians were planning to free the camp's prisoners. Some believe this threat was bogus and Sweet used it as a pretext to arrest individuals whose only crime was criticism of the camp's inhumane conditions. Several of these civilians, including the wife of a prominent Chicago attorney, were put in the camp with the prisoners of war. They were tried and convicted before a military tribunal in Cincinnati, Ohio. At least two of these civilians died in the camp. Another committed suicide while awaiting trial in Cincinnati. In 1866, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the trial had been unconstitutional.26,060 Confederates passed through Camp Douglas. Official reports put the death toll at 4454, but some historians put the number at around 6000 for a death rate of 23%. About 1500 are unaccounted for. For a period of time, the camp contracted with an unscrupulous undertaker who sold some of the bodies of Confederate prisoners to medical schools and had the rest buried in shallow graves without any coffin. Some were even dumped in Lake Michigan only to wash up on the shore. Many, however, were initially buried in unmarked pauper's graves in Chicago's City Cemetery (in today's Lincoln Park), but were re-interned after the war in 1867 at Oak Woods Cemetery (5 miles south of Camp Douglas) in a mass grave. On May 8, 1865, Colonel Sweet received the order to release all prisoners except those above the rank of colonel. Those who took the oath of allegiance were provided transportation home but those who did not were on their own. About 1,770 prisoners refused to take the oath. Today, condominiums cover most of the campsite. For many years a funeral home was operated on the grounds and the black owner kept a Confederate battle flag at half mast.Rock Island (Illinois)Rock Island was a government-owned island in the Mississippi River between Davenport, Iowa and Moline, Illinois. The island was 3 miles long and 1/2 mile wide, with a solid foundation of limestone rock. In 1862, the island was converted into a Union arsenal. The POW camp was located on the north end of the island. They started receiving prisoners in December, ’63 with the first prisoners coming from Lookout Mountain. About 5000 more were transferred from Camp Douglas shortly afterward. The prison consisted of 84 barracks surrounded by a rough board fence. It was described by their builder as "put up in the roughest and cheapest manner, mere shanties, with no fine work about them. The planned capacity of the prison was to be 10,080 prisoners.The water supply and drainage were deficient, creating a sanitation problem. Yet, even though the new camp was not ready, 5,000 Confederate prisoners were delivered there in December 1863, when the temperature was 32 degrees below zero. The prisoners were immediately beset by a smallpox epidemic that sickened thousands and killed more than 600 within 3 months.In 1864, with the population increasing, the daily rations began to suffer and get smaller. Rations were issued in bulk at the prison. Each company of prisoners received 10 days ration every 10 days instead of a daily ration every day. In every barrack, there was a 40-gallon cauldron placed in each cookhouse. The prisoners cooked their own food. Water was supplied by a steam-pump, which drew water from the river nearby. Whenever the pump malfunctioned, the water would come from a small artesian well in the prison compound. Each barrack had 2 coal burning stoves used for heat.By late 1864, conditions at the prison became even worse. A small marsh formed at the southwest corner of the prison because of poor drainage. This was a breeding ground for disease. Some Northern newspapers compared Rock Island prison to the Andersonville prison of the South. The prison had a "dead-line" inside the prison compound. Prisoners who crossed it were shot regardless of any reason. Between February and March 1865, over 3,000 prisoners were exchanged and released from the prison. The remaining prisoners were released on parole throughout May, June, and July. Out of the 12,400 men confined during Rock Island's 20-month operation, 1,964 prisoners and 171 guards died from disease. This was a death rate of about 16% of the total population.Point Lookout (Maryland)Point Lookout was located on the Chesapeake Bay side of the southern tip of Maryland in St. Mary's County. The camp started out as a supply depot and hospital for Union soldiers. Originally designated as Camp Hoffman the prison was established after the Battle of Gettysburg. It was in operation from August 1863 through June 1865. Being only 5' above sea level, it was located on approximately 30 acres of leveled land. It was the largest Union prison camp for Confederates. Point Lookout was one of the most secure POW camps, being surrounded on three sides by water from the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River, with Union cannons pointed toward the prisoners from Ft. Lincoln and guns of Union ships anchored in nearby waters. Only an estimated 50 escapes were successful.Due to its’ proximity to the Virginia theatre of war, Point Lookout was often the first stop for Confederates captured in those battles. If wounded, a prisoner would be held until recovered enough to travel to other prisons, such as Elmira or Ft. Delaware. Or, if the wounds were life-threatening, they probably wound up buried there. Hammond Hospital, a large building with outbuildings arranged in spoke fashion around it, was the care center for wounded/sick Confederate prisoners as well as for Union men.During the two-year span of operation, Point Lookout saw approx. 52,000 POWs pass through her gates. These were military and civilian, men, women, and children. It's also interesting to note that the youngest POW at Point Lookout was Baby Perkins. He was born there. His mother, Jane Perkins, was captured at the Battle of Spotsylvania with her artillery unit.Prisoners were deprived of adequate clothing, and often had no shoes in winter or, only one blanket among sixteen or more housed in old, worn, torn, discarded Union sibley tents. In the winter of 1863, 9,000 prisoners were crowded into 980 tents. Because of its’ location, prisoners were subjected to icy wind in the winter and a smoldering sun reflecting off the blinding, barren sand in summer. High water often flooded the tents in the camp area, resulting in knee deep mud. The undrained marshes bred mosquitoes. Malaria, typhoid fever and smallpox was common. The brackish water supply was contaminated by unsanitary camp conditions. There was a deadline about 10' from the 14' wooden parapet wall. Anyone caught crossing this line, even to peek through the fence, was shot. Prisoners were also randomly shot by the guards during the night as they slept, or if they called out from pain.Although it is estimated that over 14,000 prisoners died at Pt. Lookout, at present only 3,384 are accounted for as buried in the Point Lookout cemetery. Their graves have been moved twice since the original burial. They now rest in a mass grave under an 85' towering obelisk monument erected by the federal government. This was the first monument to Confederate soldiers! Huge bronze tablets circling this monument depict names of those so far recorded. Camp MortonIn 1859, the State of Indiana took possession of this tract of land for the purposes of creating a State Fairground. By 1861, there were several buildings on the grounds as well as stables for livestock. On the north side of the grounds were long open-ended shed-like structures to stable horses. Governor Lew Morton selected the fairgrounds as the only suitable place near Indianapolis for a recruitment and training camp for federal soldiers. Governor Morton, in response to a telegraph request by Union General Henry W. Halleck, agreed to accept up to 3,000 prisoners who were to be quartered at Camp Morton. Additional barracks were hastily erected that had been used for temporary stables. Some of this work was not completed until after the prisoners arrived. Starting on February 22, 1862, 3700 confederate prisoners were sent to Camp Morton over a few days.These prisoners came from Forts Henry and Donelson and were in bad shape when they arrived. Many of these prisoners had lain in water-filled trenches for days during the battles with little to eat. By the time they got to Morton, many were already sick with pneumonia and other ailments and died shortly after arriving at Camp Morton.By April 1, 1862 there were five thousand men in camp, including the guards. Prisoners continued to arrive during the spring and summer of 1862, including 1,000 men coming in after the battle of Shiloh. In the beginning, officers and enlisted men were housed together, but were later separated for security reasons. On August 23, after both Union and Confederate parties agreed to a prisoner exchange, the prisoners were released for exchange. By the first of September, the camp was empty.Prisoners were once again accepted, beginning on January 29, 1863, in lots of two to three hundred at a time. In April, all the new prisoners were ordered to City Point, Virginia for exchange. The next group of prisoners arrived from Gallatin, Tennessee in late May, 1863. Among these new prisoners were 250 East Tennesseans who took the oath of allegiance and enlisted with the Union army. After the capture of Confederate General John H. Morgan on July 23, 1863 in Ohio, 1,200 of Morgan’s men were sent to Camp Morton. The arrival of Morgan’s men created a carnival atmosphere in the camp for a time. By August there were about 3,000 prisoners at Camp Morton. On August 17 and 18, over 1,100 prisoners, including most of Morgan’s raiders, were transferred to Camp Douglas. About 1,500 prisoners remained in the run down camp. Replacements came in within a month and by July 4900 prisoners were held there.Five lots were purchased near the City Cemetery for the interment of the Confederate prisoners who died at Camp Morton. This cemetery became known as Greenlawn. An Indianapolis undertaker contracted to furnish plain wooden coffins at $3.50 a piece, and to deliver the bodies to the cemetery. At the cemetery, prisoners dug the twenty feet long trenches in which the coffins were laid side by side. A strong board carrying a painted identification number was placed at the head of each gave. No official ceremony was conducted for the dead, unless a prayer was offered by one of the prisoners.After the War, Camp Morton was converted back to the State Fairgrounds, were it remained as such until 1892 when a new State Fairgrounds was opened. The old State Fairground property was sold and divided into residential lots. Four boundary markers were installed on July 15, 2000, by the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Ben Harrison Camp 356, in cooperation with the Sons of Confederate Veterans, to delineate the four corners of the old Camp Morton property. Ft. DelawareThe marshy location, inclement weather, brutal treatment, and overcrowded conditions at Fort Delaware POW Camp on Pea Patch Island in the middle of the Delaware River all combined to make the Confederate inmates miserable. It was the starvation diet, however, that imposed the greatest hardship and led to the most deaths. In retaliation for suffering endured by Union prisoners in Southern camps, the U.S. government reduced the rations of the Rebel prisoners. The men stared out across the river to fertile fields of grain and corn, yet they sat starving.Malnutrition and unhealthful conditions resulted in epidemics. The hospital facilities were totally inadequate to deal with the camp sickness. One prisoner recalled that "physicians, in contract service, have gone daily into the hospitals, saturated with liquor; and without looking at the tongue or feeling the pulse, have tantalized the poor sufferers with the prescription, 'Oh, you must eat!' and without furnishing them with either medicine or meat, have left them to die." Alarmed at prison conditions on the island, a group of Fort Delaware neighbors organized a picnic to raise funds to buy vegetables for the prisoners. A squad of Union soldiers descended on the picnic, arrested all the males, and jailed them at Fort McHenry.The first prisoners were housed inside the fort in sealed off casemates, empty powder magazines, as well as two small rooms inside the sally port. In those small rooms, names of confederates can still be seen carved into the brick. The first Confederate general to be housed at the fort was Brig. Gen. Johnston Pettigrew. During the war, a total of about a dozen generals were held within the fort as prisoners-of-war. The prison also housed convicted federal soldiers, local political prisoners and privateers. Most of the Confederates captured at Gettysburg were imprisoned here.By August 1863, there were more than 11,000 prisoners on the island; by war’s end, it had held almost 33,000 men. About 2,500 prisoners died on Pea Patch Island. The overall death rate for prisoners was about 7.6 percent. Half of the total number of deaths occurred during a smallpox epidemic in 1863.On August 20, 1864, six-hundred Confederate officers were forced on a ship named the Crescent bound for Morris Island, S.C., to be placed under the fire of the Confederate batteries in retaliation for 50 Federal officers who had been placed in the city of Charleston as a human shield against the Union shelling of that city. This group of prisoners became known as the Immortal Six Hundred. After the Confederates removed the Federal officers from Charleston because of a yellow fever outbreak, the six hundred were sent to Ft. Pulaski, then later returned to Ft Delaware.Johnson’s IslandIn late 1861, Federal officials selected Johnson’s Island as the site for a prisoner of war camp to hold up to 2,500 captured Confederate officers. This island is located in the southwestern corner of Lake Erie near Sandusky, Ohio. It offered easy access by ship for supplies to construct and maintain a prison and its population. Sandusky Bay offered more protection from the elements than on other nearby islands, which were also closer to Canada in the event of a prison break. Woods of hickory and oak trees could provide lumber and fuel.Johnson's Island was the only Union prison created exclusively for Southern officers but it also held regular soldiers. During its three years of operation, more than 15,000 men were incarcerated there. The 16.5-acre prison opened in April, 1862. A 15-foot high wooden stockade surrounded 12 two-story prisoner housing barracks, a hospital, latrines, sutler’s stand, three wells, a pest house, and two large mess halls (added in August 1864). After the unraveling of a Confederate espionage ring which had been plotting the seizure of the Great Lakes warship USS Michigan and a mass breakout of prisoners, Forts Johnson and Hill were constructed over the winter of 1864–65. They were not operational until March 1865, in the war's final months, when the prisoner population peaked at 3,200. Despite the harsh Ohio winters, food and fuel shortages, and disease, Johnson's Island had one of the lowest mortality rates of any Civil War prison, about 200. Confederates made many escape attempts, including efforts by some to walk across the frozen Lake Erie to freedom in Canada. A handful of escapes were successful.Hart IslandIn 1865, as the Civil War was ending, the Federal government used the Island as the final prison camp established for Confederate soldiers. Located in Long Island Sound about twenty miles north of New York City and just a few miles south of David's Island, Hart Island wasn't even used until April 1865, the month the Civil War came to an end. 3,413 captured Confederate soldiers were housed. 235 died. Their remains were relocated to Cypress Hills Cemetery, Brooklyn in 1941.Within the four months of its operation, nearly 7 percent of all the camp's POWs died, mostly from illnesses brought with them, such as chronic diarrhea and pneumonia. It, too, was nothing more than a concentration camp. The first POWs arrived on April 7 and were immediately placed into a stockade enclosure of about four acres. They were captured around Petersburg during the heavy fighting that took place when Lee’s army broke out of the trenches and headed for Danville.Alton, IllinoisThe Alton prison opened in 1833 as the first Illinois State Penitentiary and was closed in 1860, when the last prisoners were moved to a new facility at Joliet. By late in 1861 an urgent need arose to relieve the overcrowding at two St. Louis prisons. On December 31, 1861, Major General Henry Halleck, Commander of the Department of the Missouri, ordered Lt. Colonel James B. McPherson to Alton for an inspection of the closed penitentiary. Colonel McPherson reported that the prison could be made into a military prison and house up to 1,750 prisoners with improvements estimated to cost $2,415.The first prisoners arrived at the Alton Federal Military Prison on February 9, 1862. During the next three years over 11,764 Confederate prisoners would pass through the gates of the Alton Prison. Along with the Confederate prisoners, Northern citizens, including several women, were imprisoned there for treasonable actions, making anti-Union statements, aiding an escaped Confederate, etc. Others, classified as bushwhackers or guerillas, were imprisoned for acts against the government such as bridge burning and railroad vandalism.Conditions in the prison were harsh and the mortality rate was above average for a Union prison. Hot, humid summers and cold Midwestern winters took a heavy toll on prisoners already weakened by poor nourishment and inadequate clothing. Pneumonia and dysentery were common killers but contagious diseases such as smallpox and rubella were the most feared. When smallpox infection became alarmingly high in the winter of 1862 and spring of 1863, a quarantine hospital was located on an island across the Mississippi River from the prison.Up to 300 prisoners and soldiers died and are buried on the island, now under water. A cemetery in North Alton that belonged to the State of Illinois was used for most that died. A monument there lists 1,534 names of Confederate soldiers that are known to have died. An additional number of civilians and Union soldiers were victims of disease and illness.Confederate Prisons and CampsAndersonvilleAndersonville, or Camp Sumter as it was officially known, was one of the largest of many established prison camps during the American Civil War. It was built early in 1864 after Confederate officials decided to move the large number of Federal prisoners kept in and around Richmond, Virginia, to a place of greater security and a more abundant food supply. During the 14 months the prison existed, more than 45,000 Union Solders were confined here. Of these, almost 13,000 died from disease, poor sanitation, malnutrition, overcrowding, or exposure to the elements. This was a death rate of over 28%. It should be noted the death rate among the Confederate guards was about the same.This prison was an exception to most of the other prisons in that it was built from scratch to be a prison. The pen initially covered about 16 1/2 acres of land enclosed by a 15 foot high stockade of hewn pine logs. It was enlarged to 26 1/2 acres in June of 1864. Eight small earthen forts located around the exterior of the prison were equipped with artillery to quell disturbances within the compound and to defend against feared Union cavalry attacks. The first prisoners were brought to Andersonville in February, 1864. During the next few months 400 more arrived each day until, by the end of June, some 26,000 men were confined in a prison area originally intended to hold 13,000. The largest number held at any one time was more than 32,000- about the population of present-day Sumter County.Handicapped by deteriorating economic conditions, an inadequate transportation system, and the need to concentrate all available resources on the army, the Confederate government was unable to provide adequate housing, food, clothing, and medical care to their Federal captives. These conditions, along with a breakdown of the prisoner exchange system, resulted in much suffering and a high mortality rate. A report published by a committee of the U.S. House of Representatives speaks of the testimony provided by Dr. Isaiah H. White, surgeon in charge of the prison camp: "The papers show that Dr. White repeatedly called the attention of his superiors to the condition of the prisoners, appealing for medical and hospital supplies, additional medical officers, and adequate supply of cooking utensils, hospital tents, etc. The medical profession owes a debt of gratitude to this gentleman and his colleagues in their labors for the unfortunate men confined at Andersonville." "It is a well-known fact," said Dr. White, "that the Confederate authorities used every means in their power to secure the exchange of prisoners, but it was the policy of the United States Government to prevent it, as is well shown by a letter of General Grant to General Butler, dated August the 18th, 1864, in which he said:” 'It is hard on our men held in Southern prisons not to exchange them, but it is humanity to those left in the ranks to fight our battles. Every man released on parole or otherwise, becomes an active soldier against us at once, either directly or indirectly. If we commence a system of exchange which liberates all prisoners taken, we will have to fight on until the whole South is exterminated. If we hold those caught they amount to no more than dead men. At this particular time to release all rebel prisoners North would insure Sherman's defeat and would compromise our safety here.” "This policy," continued the Doctor, "not only kept our men out of the field, but threw upon our impoverished commissariat the feeding of a large number of prisoners."“In refutation of the charge that prisoners were starved, let it be noted that the Confederate Congress in May, 1861, passed a bill providing that the rations furnished to prisoners of war should be the same in quantity and quality as those issued to the enlisted men in the army of the Confederacy. And the prisoners received the same rations that were furnished the Confederate guard. That this was sometimes scant, every old rebel in the field can testify. But this was due to our poverty.”Major Henry Wirz, Commander of Andersonville was the only Confederate tried and executed for war crimes. This was despite testimony by 68 former prisoners that Wirz was a kind man who tried to give them the best treatment possible under the circumstances. In fact, Wirz sent 3000 of his sickest prisoners to the Union garrison at Jacksonville, Fla. in hopes they could save them. The Union commander would not accept them and sent them back. Sec. of War Stanton offered Wirz his life and freedom if he would incriminate President Davis, but he refused to do so, stating he would give up his life before telling a lie. The key witness that testified he saw Wirz shoot a prisoner was later proved to be a deserter and committed perjury during the trial.Libby Prison – RichmondThe prison was located in a three-story brick warehouse on two levels on Tobacco Row at the waterfront of the James River. Prior to use as a jail, the warehouse had been leased by Capt. Luther Libby and his son George W. Libby. They operated a ship's chandlery and grocery business.The Confederate government started to use the facility as a hospital and prison in 1861, reserving it for Union officers in 1862 because of the influx of prisoners. It contained eight low-ceilinged rooms, each 103 by 42 feet. The second and third floors were used to house prisoners. Windows were barred and open to the elements, increasing the discomfort. Lack of sanitation and overcrowding caused diseases. From 700 prisoners in 1862, the facility had a total of 1,000 by 1863. Mortality rates were high in 1863 and 1864, aggravated by shortages of food and supplies. Because of the high death toll, Libby Prison is generally regarded as second in notoriety to Andersonville Prison in Georgia.In 1864, the Confederacy moved Union prisoners to Macon, Georgia. The Confederate Army then used the prison for military criminals. After the occupation of Richmond in 1865, Union authorities used the prison for detention of former Confederate officers. They reportedly improved conditions over those for Union officers or prisoners of war on both sides generally during the war.Salisbury (N.C.)A 4-story abandoned cotton factory in downtown Salisbury was first utilized as a prison for incarcerating Confederate soldiers who had committed military offenses, deserters, spies, and Southern citizens suspected of disloyalty. On December 12, 1861 with the prison still not fully completed, the first Union prisoners arrived at the prison on December 12, captured at the battle of 1st Manassas. By spring of 1862, the prison would reach a population of 1,700 prisoners. Under the Prisoner cartel agreement the prison population dropped to about 800 prisoners.In September 1864, Major John Gee became commander of the camp and was told to prepare the prison for a large group of prisoners in October. Improvements were started at the prison immediately. Before they could be finished, a group of 5,000 prisoners arrived on October 5. In the following weeks, more prisoners arrived and by the end of October, the prison population had reached 10,321. The prisoners were separated by rank at the prison. The officers were kept on the eastern side, where most of the buildings were, and the enlisted were placed into the western side. There were also numerous escape attempts made during this time resulting in over 500 escapes. A lack of shelter caused a lot of fights. Nearly 50% of the prisoners did not have any shelter.By the end of 1864, Gee was finally able to transfer all the officer prisoners to Danville Prison, thus providing more room for the remaining prisoners. On February 22, 1865 all prisoners not too sick or weak to move, left the prison for a general prisoner exchange. The column of more than 2,800 prisoners began a 51-mile march to Greensboro, North Carolina. Of the over than 2,800 prisoners that left, only 1,800 made it to Greensboro. Over 200 were left at Lexington and 500 were abandoned along the road the following day. The final death toll for Salisbury was over 3700 total.After the war ended, Gee was arrested by Federal authorities because of the conditions the Union prisoners had to endure. He was tried by a military commission in February, 1866 on the charge of cruelty and conspiracy regarding his management of Salisbury Prison. After a 5-month trail, he was acquitted on all charges and released.Danville (Va.)Opening in 1863, this prison consisted of 6 vacant brick buildings overlooking the Dan River, mostly tobacco and cotton warehouses in the center of town. One of the buildings, a 3-story structure with an estimated capacity of 700, had an attached bakery and cooking range with the capability of preparing rations for 3,000 men. There were 3 other warehouses, all within 100 yards of each other, that had a combined estimated capacity of 2,300 prisoners. Not far away, 2 additional buildings came into use. Both of them were located within the town's business district. The combined capacity of these 2 buildings was almost 1,300. These buildings were labeled Prison No. 1-6.Although Danville became known as a prison for Union officers, enlisted men were also included initially, and Prison No. 6 was used for the confinement of black prisoners. Within a few weeks after opening, the prison became overcrowded. The space allotted to each man amounted to almost 4 square feet, just enough to lie down in. From the beginning, rations included black bread made from ground sorghum cane and coffee made from burnt rye. Usually included with this was about 2 ounces of beef, a little soup, and some rice. Later on, the ration decreased to the point where the ration was nothing more than 1.5 pounds of cornbread per man.By the end of January 1864, there were still 4,000 prisoners. A smallpox epidemic raged through the prison, business district, and the town. In February, 1864, the residents of Danville petitioned Secretary of War James A. Seddon remove the Yankee prisoners because the hospitals of the prisoners and sick were located in the very heart of the town and they didn’t want the diseases to spread through the whole town. By late October 1864, a few thousand prisoners were sent from Belle Isle prison to Danville. By January 1865, daily rations were down to nothing more than cornbread. ................
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