WBTS POW Prisons and Camps

WBTS POW Prisons and Camps

“Confederate prisoners of war amount to no more than dead men”… Ulysses S. Grant

When 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 privates

1 major general = 40 privates

1 brigadier general = 20 privates

1 colonel = 15 privates

1 lieutenant colonel = 10 privates

1 major = 8 privates

1 captain = 6 privates

1 lieutenant = 4 privates

1 noncommissioned officer = 2 privates

Equal rank = 1 for 1

There 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. POWcamps 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 Camps

Elmira (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 connectingthe 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 adeath 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 Andersonvilleprison 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, alarge 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 Morton

In 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.