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In reporting the incident to Hoffman, Colonel Charles De Land, the camp commandant, wrote that if there had been less hurry among them many more could have escaped,[27] a detail he might have wisely omitted. Although one captive claimed to have heard some twenty-five shots, nobody else was wounded. One tossed a blanket over a nearby lamp as a second followed with a plank of wood. [1] Ohio provided 230 regiments of infantry and cavalry, 26 light artillery batteries, 2 heavy artillery regiments, and 5 independent sharpshooter companies. Operating from July 1861 until February 1865, the Confederate Prison at Salisbury held nearly 10,000 Union soldiers during the Civil War. Topics ranged from astronomy to The Influence of Women.[21] One enterprising Point Lookout speaker, charging five cents or a ration of meat, offered not only to present a lecture but also to phrenologically examine the heads of those attending. A. Maximilian de Angelis. The tents made for uncomfortable winters. Copyright20062023,Somerightsreserved. When the Civil War began in April 1861, prisoners and prison policy were not high priorities for Union officials. For the post of commissary general of prisoners he selected Lieutenant Colonel William Hoffman, a career soldier, West Point class of 1829. The military situation had changed, however, rendering the Unions primary prison woefully obsolete before it was even completed. Eventually over 185,000 served. The need for additional prisons became imperative after General Sherman captured Atlanta on September 1, 1864. One inspector concluded that the Graybeards were, the most unpromising subjects for soldiers I ever saw.[30]. Prisoners Among the Pines: Texas' Camp Ford Civil Discourse In January 1942, Hitler authorized better treatment of Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) because the war had bogged down and German authorities decided Soviet POWs were a useful source of wartime labor. During the secession crisis Hoffmans Texas command had been surrendered by his superior, General David Twiggs, although Hoffman and his comrades were soon paroled and sent north. Learn new and interesting details about their wartime service and some of the challenges of being captured by the enemy. George Levy, To Die in Chicago: Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas 1862-65. The fate of irregular and citizen prisoners confused matters further. The units that served as guards were the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Georgia Reserves, and elements of the 55th Georgia and the 26th Alabama Infantry. Stealing and fighting were common offenses resulting in punishment. At first they were content with their new home. Even dogs and cats that chanced into the compounds were not safe from the hungry Confederates. I am homesick, an Elmira prisoner wrote one Sunday evening. Andersonville National Historic Site from the National Park Service. The Death Register was maintained by paroled prisoners; most famous among these was Dorence Atwater, who published the list after the war. The bloodshed did not serve long as a deterrent. This was particularly true of the North's political leaders, most of whom, chanting "On to Richmond!" believed the war would be a quick and relatively bloodless affair. Ion Antonescu. Hoffman brought a wealth of practical experience to his position that would aid him in overseeing the construction and operation of prison facilities. While several modern sources identify Thomas G. Barrett as the officer accused of mistreating prisoners, the officer was actually his brother James. For more information on scheduling a research appointment in the library, e-mail us. [The original link is broken. To keep the Union soldiers in order during relocation, they were told that they were to be paroled. However, as Union soldiers languished for months in Richmond warehouses, the pressure for exchange became overwhelming. Others are from the Surgeon General's Office, a few Army commands and individual prison camps. This was especially true on Sundays, when thoughts invariably turned to church services and family gatherings. Located at the tip of the peninsula between the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, the former resort had become the site of a large military hospital on the bay side. The first came in the form of a wall, patrolled by armed guards, that the men would have to get either under, over, or through. Supplies were scarce for both the prisoners and the guards. The Confederate captives also turned out decorative fans. Increasingly some records are being made available online through genealogical research companies. These records often contain affidavits and statements that attest that a soldier was held at Andersonville and can sometimes even include stories from their captivity. Thank you for posting your question to History Hub! Watching a group of thirty citizens take a tour of the camp, he slipped into civilian clothes and blended in with them. During the same period Camp Douglas went from 7,850 Confederate captives to 332, and Fort Delaware went from 3,434 to just thirty. From the outset each side accused the other of cheating on the numbers and declaring units exchanged prematurely. At every camp they failed to impress. The collection consists mainly of lists and registers and is part of RG 109, War Department Collection of Confederate Records. In mid-October, the United States Sanitary Commission delivered supplies. Images of records from the United States Provost Marshal during the Civil War. 07:05:15 He worked hard to provide for the prisoners comfort, overseeing a project to rebuild the prison barracks. Over 1,000 scholars reportedly attended his first class high school.[20] Prisoners could also expand their horizons by attending lectures, often for a small admission fee. Salisbury Prison (Civil War) - North Carolina History Project His designs will never be known because a guard shot the daring prisoner in the face, mortally wounding him. At the end of the war many states' records were lost or destroyed, so there is significant inconsistency in the availability of Confederate service records, especially among reserve and militia units. In the 150 years since the Civil War, the experiences of the men confined here continue to resonate with each succeeding generation. In order to identify a soldier as a confirmed prisoner of war at Andersonville you will need to find the soldier's service records. The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. Among the top military brass there were a few realists. Tunnels were the most often tried method of escape, but in many ways the most difficult. June 20, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news - CNN Prisoner Location: Fort McHenry Prisoner Type: Prisoner Of War Hickel, H.H. SUMMARY Libby Prison, in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, housed Union prisoners of war during the American Civil War (1861-1865). We draw fresh beef every other day, a Camp Douglas prisoner wrote in his diary, but it is not the number one article being mostly neck, flank, bones and shank.[25] At other camps prisoners complained of liquid mushy[26] bread and meat that was spoiled. The CWSS is a cooperative effort between the National Park Service and several public and private partners whose goal is to increase Americans' understanding of this decisive era in American history by making information about it widely accessible. From 1863-1865, Danville was home to six. Arkansas Second Registration draft cards 1948-1959, Duty locations, Naval Group China, World War II, 1942-1945, General Correspondence of the Record and Pension Office, 1889-1904, Georgia World War II Draft Registration Cards 1940-1942, Pennsylvania, American Revolution Patriot Militia Index, Pennsylvania, World War II casualty cards, South Carolina, records of Confederate veterans 1909-1973, United States Civil War Pension Files Index 1861-1934, United States Naval Enlistment Rendezvous 1855-1891, United States, Revolutionary War, Pensions, United States, World War I draft registration cards, Veterans Administration pension payment cards, 1907-1933, Veterans with Federal Service Buried in Utah, Territorial to 1966. All Rights Reserved. Russia-Ukraine war latest: People 'screaming under rubble' after On the night of November 14, forty-eight prisoners made their escape. If you are unable to visit the park to search the database personally, please contact us, and a member of our staff can search the database for you. Within five weeks Rock Island was housing 6,158 Confederate captives. DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois University Press, 2000. Registers of Federal Prisoners of War Confined at Andersonville Prison, Georgia in National Archives Microfilm Publication M1303. White officers leading black soldiers were subject to execution on the charge of leading a servile insurrection. Among them were Camp Douglas in Chicago; Camp Butler, near Springfield, Illinois; Camp Morton, former site of the Indiana State Fairgrounds; and Camp Chase. The Union had begun enlisting black troops as Northern volunteerism waned. The Florence Stockade was built and became operational in September 1864, and was in operation during the final fall and winter of the war. Among the most competent commandants of a Civil War prison was Colonel William Richardson, who assumed command of Camp Chase on February 10, 1864. 5, 1897), 1897: 1-1: 1: Another insisted that the driver was not involved in the plot and was most surprised when he heard a sound and turned to witness one of his passengers emerging from the coffin. To obtain service records of Confederate soldiers you should contact the appropriate state archives and request Service & Pension records: Georgia Archives, Alabama Archives, and Florida Archives. Just three weeks later the guards had more success thwarting an attempted escape at Camp Douglas. Inspectors complained of lax discipline, men talking and laughing while on guard duty and gazing off in the distance, not even facing the prison yard. United States Civil War, 1861-1865 Union Prisoner of War Records United States Civil War, 1861-1865 Getting Started Beginning Civil War Research Research Strategies Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System General Topics African Americans Battles Bibliography Christian Commission Cultural Groups Indigenous Peoples Maps and Photographs The most prominent of these sites are www.ancestry.com and www.familysearch.org, which are basic genealogical research assistance sites, and www.fold3.com, which specializes in military records*. At Rock Island, Colonel Adolphus Johnson, commanding the camp, was critical of the black guards, blaming them for at least one escape. You may access the descriptive pamphlet and a list of National Archives facilities that have the microfilm using the Microfilm Catalog. Rolls 43-44 contain Category R-Prisoners and Prisons. The prison was the only one of its kind in North Carolina, and overcrowding and poor prison conditions led to the deaths of many Union prisoners of war. Of the total number of prisoners that passed through the Florence Stockade, 2,802 Union soldiers died there and most were buried in unmarked trenches in what would become the Florence National Cemetery after the war. Many of these new soldiers in blue had recently been the property of Confederates. Cite This Collection "Georgia, Andersonville Prison Records, 1862-1865." Images. If their diaries are to be believed, the prisoners ate rats by the hundreds. Today, the Salisbury National Cemetery honors those who died at the prison garrison. He then took photos of his fellow prisoners, which he sold to them for a dollar. Officials sidestepped the prickly question of exchanging black soldiers by first returning the prisoners who had been held the longest. For more information or assistance with access to these records, we recommend you contact the Archives 1 Reference Branch (RR1R) at: archives1reference@nara.gov. Many prisoners would inform on their comrades for extra rations or other special treatment. FamilySearch Catalog - Roll of Confederate prisoners of war, paroled at Meridian, Mississippi, May 1865 Bucking and gagging involved forcing a block of wood into the offenders mouth. Military Microfilm | National Archives Most records from various Confederate units are maintained by their respective states. By contrast, Elmiras dungeon consisted of several individual cells, also with no windows. In the fall of 1864 a pair of Rock Island prisoners absconded by perfectly forging the passes of contract surgeons who served the camp. The Union Army first used the camp in 1861 as an organizational and . Every camp, North and South, had an aptly named dead line, a few feet from the fence, over which no prisoner dared to step. President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and African leaders on a peace mission to Kyiv had testy exchanges on Friday on how to end the war with Russia . Typically when a soldier died his friends would record his basic information on a scrap of paper that would be affixed to his body. If you are able to obtain these records you may send photocopies to the park so that they may be included in our research library. An inspecting officer dispatched by Hoffman termed him, utterly ignorant of the most common requirements of Army Regulations and not in any degree a soldier.[6] After visiting Camp Douglas in June, Hoffman reported: There has been the greatest carelessness and willful neglect in the management of affairs of the camp. He blamed the recently departed commandant, Colonel James Mulligan, who had left things in, a shameful state of confusion.[7]. Sadly, the cartel was doomed to failure. Andersonville prison in south Georgia was thought to be in the path of Sherman and the Confederate prison authorities determined to relocate the approximately 30,000 Union prisoners then at Andersonville. The Civil War Soldiers and Sailors System (CWSS) is a database containing information about the men who served in the Union and Confederate armies during the Civil War. U.S., Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865 - Ancestry Most of these citizen prisoners, along with the few military prisoners taken by Union armies, ended up in already existing facilities along or close to the Atlantic coast. One Camp Douglas prisoner learned this lesson in May 1864. Often they were crowded in with several other prisoners. As Hoffman was establishing the prison at Point Lookout, General Meigs ordered an assistant quartermaster to Rock Island, Illinois. This was particularly true of the Norths political leaders, most of whom, chanting On to Richmond! believed the war would be a quick and relatively bloodless affair. The war was brought to a close in April of 1865 after the surrender of Confederate General Robert E. Lee to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, close to the Union-Confederate border on the east coast of the United States. Union Prisons - Essential Civil War Curriculum In addition, some states maintain records of soldiers who served in Civil War. Brothers Bound Those thus sentenced found themselves in a windowless room about twelve feet square. As a result, Grants superior, Major General Henry W. Halleck, commanding the Department of the West, was soon dispatching a flurry of telegrams to Northwestern governors seeking facilities to hold the prisoners. A three-building complex that had been a tobacco factory and then a shipping supply and grocery store, Libby became a prison in March 1862. It was a monotonous life. In his 1879 book Andersonville: a Story of Rebel Military Prisons, John McElroy, who was imprisoned in both, states, "I think also that all who experienced confinement in the two places are united in pronouncing Florence to be, on the whole, much the worse place and more fatal to life." The ultimate punishment, of course, was shooting. The first was the appointment of a commissary general of prisoners, an officer who would carry out Union prison policies and supervise Northern prisons. The raw material came from a variety of sources. Receiving somewhat better reviews were members of the United States Colored Troops (USCT). Development and operation of the Union prison system. There were also reports of heavy drinking. Similar reports emanated from Johnsons Island, Camp Morton, and Fort Delaware during 1863 and 1864. For example, this was especially prevalent amongst German immigrants who served in the Union army. He spent July 4, 1864 suffering in a Confederate prison camp 31711, Download the official NPS app before your next visit. National Prisoner of War Museum Civil War Prison Camps | American Battlefield Trust The National Archives website has further information on these fees and services. Other prisoners from Millen were transferred to camps at Savannah and Florence. Prisoners held in Little Rock were allowed to take the oath and released. They were unguarded. Although it is the policy of the National Park Service not to change historic headstones, the museum database will be updated in order to reflect correct or other information, as needed. Some received gutta-percha resin and other items from friends or relatives in the North. Prisoners of War (Civil War) - Encyclopedia of Arkansas Libby Prison - Encyclopedia Virginia Both Ancestry and Familysearch's prisoner of war records include original hospital and burial records from Andersonville. Elsewhere the only remaining prisoners were those who were too sick to travel. Others consisted of the prisoners short bunk ladders, fastened together. These records usually consist of muster rolls, which would provide confirmation of when and where the soldier went missing. Top of Page. These errors of transcription, most of them dating to the time of the prison's operation, are a reflection of the history of the place and tell a story. Temporary regiments, raised for only one hundred days of duty, also filled the ranks frequently. Although Congress approved the enlistment of black soldiers in July 1862, none were mustered in for nearly a year. In the 150 years since the Civil War, the experiences of the men confined here continue to resonate with each succeeding generation. On May 19, 1864, Hoffman informed Elmiras commander, Lieutenant Colonel Seth Eastman, that he should prepare his camp to receive as many as ten thousand captives possibly within ten days.[13] Eastman protested that the barracks there could hold no more than four thousand. Polish prisoners-of-war in the Soviet Union after 1939. This is National Archive publication M416. Although one of the escapees was never heard from again, none was recaptured. The Provost Marshal served as military police for the Union army. Opened in June 1862 and closed in October 1864, the facility was subject to multiple closures and re-openings, which were contingent upon prisoner exchanges. Images of records from the United States Provost Marshal during the Civil War. The following July the outfit became the 88th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. The regiment served at St. Louis, Alton, Rock Island, Camp Morton, and Camp Chase. tobacco factory that had been built by the. Many errors aren't actually errors at all rather they reflect how a name might have changed spelling over time. Civil War - Confederate and Union Prisoners of War They worked in pairs, one doing the digging as the other removed the dirt. One conducted at Elmira included ten teachers and attracted some 200 students according to one prison diarist. Retaliation also made escape a more tempting option for Confederate prisoners languishing in Northern compounds. By the following March the number was down to 534. Before his arrival at the camp, four men had commanded it in the previous twelve months. I am just learning the names of my men and also their characters and dispositions, he wrote to his wife, who are the good soldiers and who are the shirks, for there are some of the latter, even in the fifth cavalry.[33]. Debates enlivened many evenings in the prison barracks. As the shaft expanded, air was at a premium, and eventually, as one noted, a minute [at the end of the shaft] was enough to give one the most violent, racking headache.[28] The determined prisoners persevered, and their shaft eventually led them to freedom. One was reportedly eighty. At least seventeen of the escapees were later recaptured. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2001. The Provost Marshal served as military police for the Union army. Forced Labor: Soviet POWs January 1942 through May 1945 The volume's index originally indicated that the Barrett named in the documents was Thomas, but the Additions and Corrections page in the volume (OR Series 2, Volume 8, p. 2) corrected the index by replacing "Barrett, Thomas G." with "Barrett, James. Others were housed in the Old Capitol, located just east of the United States Capitol building, a structure built to serve as a temporary seat of the government after the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812. Confederate Prison Number 6 - Danville, Virginia Survivors were granted pensions as well. Two years later the unit was increased to regimental strength. Nine days after Meigs sent his message to Cameron the Battle of First Manassas exploded the idea of a short, painless war. Typographical errors are very common for Civil War records, and especially those from Andersonville, GA. The City of Florence and the Friends of the Florence Stockade have developed a walking tour of the site. FamilySearch Catalog - Selected records of the War Department relating to Confederate prisoners of war, 1861-1865 : NARA Record Group 109 Most, however, found themselves in Union training camps, sections of which were quickly set aside to accommodate the Fort Donelson prisoners. Before the war, Ohio was a major stopping place for the Underground Railroad; 5,092 free blacks were part of the Ohio regiments. On September 9, 1864, exchanges were resumed, albeit on a limited basis. Union Prisoners - The Civil War B. Albert Bach. If a soldier was not a part of one of these units, he was probably not a member of the guard force at Andersonville. At Fort Delaware and Johnsons Island resourceful prisoners were able to send longer letters south by bribing the censors. The War of the Rebellion at Cornell University mentions multiple exchanges with references to lists of prisoners but I have been unable to locate those lists. http://FamilySearch.org : 18 July 2022. These errors were not corrected after the war and, further complicating matters; the published Death Register was then used to compile regimental rosters after the war. Columbus OH: The Ohio State University Press, 1930. FamilySearch Catalog - Lists of Confederates captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, FamilySearch Catalog - Roll of Confederate prisoners of war, paroled at Meridian, Mississippi, May 1865, FamilySearch Catalog - Selected records of the War Department relating to Confederate prisoners of war, 1861-1865 : NARA Record Group 109, Findmypast - Georgia, Andersonville Prison Records 1862-1865 Image Browse. (2012) [26] Clarke, J. G . For solders that died at Andersonville, their spouses and families were eligible for pensions. Due to the inconsistency of these primitive "dogtags" and the hurried nature of recording this information, many errors were made at the time. Colonel Stevens arrived at Camp Morton after being wounded at Perryville, Kentucky. For many families, this was the first notification that their loved ones had died at Andersonville. Men began daily searches of their compounds, seeking out bones or any scrap of refuse. SUMMARY Belle Isle Prison, located on an island in the James River and connected by footbridge to Richmond, was a Confederate military prison during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Not all betrayals were so nefarious. In addition to crossing the dead line, offenses included committing a nuisance outside the sinks and being outside the barracks after dark. https://go.nps.gov/atwaterlist. The eight largest camps reported that 1,664 Confederate captives died that month, 499 at Camp Chase alone. This collection consists of an explanation of the records (which is listed as an index) and 429 volumes of Confederate Prisoners of War records. Six Camp Douglas captives succeeded on the night of September 6, 1864, largely due to the incompetence of the guards. This saved them the trouble of firing then cleaning their weapons. Compounding the situation for the North was the fact that Union armies had begun winning significant victories. FamilySearch - United States Records of Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 2009. If you are conducting research on a soldier who may have been a guard the first thing to check is the soldier's unit. Many prisoners believed it was healthier than the camps brackish water. Prisoners who received boxes of food from friends or relatives sometimes set up small restaurants in the prison marketplaces. S.S. Boggs of the 21st Illinois have written similar accounts of Barrett's cruel, inhumane behavior and murders of prisoners. This record, although imperfect, reflects how names were spelled and labeled in the original records. At Johnsons Island, Fort Delaware, and Point Lookout, prisons adjacent to bodies of water, officials allowed prisoners to bathe one or two days a week. They were housed in tents, making it the only Union prison at which barracks were not built. The rate was two and one-half cents a page and many a prison diarist wrote of dispatching four-page dime letters.. In other cases as literacy evolved, name spellings changed as well. This evening seems very much like Sabbath evenings at home.[19], The best cure for such feelings was the arrival of a Dixie Mail, bringing letters from home via flag-of-truce boats. In wintertime they engaged in epic snowball battles, which, according to one observer, left the ground, as bloody as in actual conflict.[23]. At Elmira, which did not open as a prison until the summer of 1864, at least a dozen regiments came and went as guards. Among them were Colonel James Strong and Colonel Benjamin Sweet at Camp Douglas and Colonel Johnson at Rock Island. While many soldiers died in prisoner of war camps, many others were involved in prisoner exchanges or survived until the end of the war. For example, William S. Pierson, a former mayor of Sandusky, became the commander at Johnsons Island. Prison compounds were dotted with stands offering rings, shirt studs, and breast pins. According to prison diarists, they also provided tempting targets for thieves among their fellow captives. GA Elsewhere a ditch served the purpose. This led to the listing of men on regimental records who didn't exist at all. The library may be reserved for research Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Use of the library may be limited on specific days throughout the year. Meigs approved the site, and the commissary general of prisoners set to work. these was Prison Number 6, a converted. The Civil War headstones, especially those with errors, reflect the limitations of record-keeping of the era, and the remarkable efforts over a century and a half to document and remember those who died while held in captivity here. As a result, pension records alone cannot provide confirmation that a soldier was held at Andersonville. The following February exchange became more general. Working with pocketknives, they went down six feet before starting their horizontal 68-foot shaft to the wall. The agreement applied only to sick and wounded prisoners, men who would be unable to return to duty for at least sixty days. Copy Citation All were political prisoners, and the last was released at the end of March 1866. Bad weather and ice on Lake Erie delayed the construction effort, but on February 26, 1862, Hoffman informed Meigs that the depot would soon be ready to receive a limited number of prisoners, say 500 or 600.[3].