Tag Archives: prisons

3 March 1865: “With regard to the prison stations at Andersonville, Salisbury and other places south of Richmond[…] We are satisfied that privation, suffering and mortality, to an extent much to be regretted, did prevail among the prisoners there, but they were not the result of neglect, still less of design on the part of the Confederate government.”

Item description: Report, dated 3 March 1865, of the Joint Select Committee appointed to investigate the Condition and Treatment of Prisoners of War. [Note: The image above is only the first page of the report. Click here to see a complete … Continue reading

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28 February 1865: “SALISBURY* you’ve left behind you, and the dead line and stockade! You have suffered great privations–they can never be repaid!”

Item Description: A poem written by George G. B. DeWolfe, known as “The Wandering Poet of New Hampshire,” for Union soldiers recently paroled from the Confederate prison at Salisbury, North Carolina. Item Citation: DeWolfe, George G. B. “Lines for the … Continue reading

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6 October 1864: “I cannot get anything to read here”

Item Description: Letter dated 6 October 1864 from J. D. from prison in Ohio. He writes to his Uncle Edwin in Philadelphia about finances. Item Citation: From folder 19 in Confederate Papers, #00172, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of … Continue reading

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23 May 1864: “We are guarded by negro troops, who are as mean as hell.”

Item Description: Diary entry, dated 23 May 1864, written by Louis Leon, a Confederate soldier in the North Carolina Infantry. At this point in the war, Leon has been imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland.  In this entry, he describes an incident … Continue reading

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8 November 1863: “I am afflicted with the scurvy, chronic diarrhœa and fever. These are the prevailing diseases here…”

Item description: Entry from a diary kept by Willard W. Glazier, who enlisted as a private in the “2nd Regiment of N. Y. Cavalry (Harris Light)” early in the war. He was captured by soldiers of the Confederate Army on … Continue reading

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7 October 1863: Drawing of Johnson’s Island Prison, Sandusky Bay near Sandusky, Ohio

Item description: Drawing, dated 7 October 1863, by Joseph Mason Kern, a member of the 13th Virginia Regiment, C.S.A.  The illustration depicts Johnson’s Island Prison in Sandusky Bay, Ohio, where Kern was imprisoned. Item citation: From folder 2 of the … Continue reading

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9 June 1862: “On Duty from 7 AM till 12 1/2 P.M. was pretty busy 162 prisoners of war came in on the cars from Strasbourg”

Item description: Entry from the diary of Newton Wallace, Company I, 27th Massachusetts Volunteers, describing Confederate prisoners of war coming in on a train from “Strasbourg” (presumably, this is Strasburg, Virginia) while on duty in Virginia. Wallace’s entry from 10 … Continue reading

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4 October 1861: “He has many admirers & strangers who visit the island, exhibit great eagerness to get a sight of him.”

Item description: Diary entry, 4 October 1861, of Thomas Sparrow, captain of Company A, 7th North Carolina Infantry (“Washington Grays”), written while Sparrow was imprisoned at Governor’s Island, N.Y. The entry continues a thread from the previous day, giving an … Continue reading

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3 October 1861: “An improvement in the treatment of the prisoners at the Castle & the Baltimore political prisoners. Taken out to walk & sun, twice a day.”

Item description: Diary entry, 3 October 1861, of Thomas Sparrow, captain of Company A, 7th North Carolina Infantry (“Washington Grays”), written while Sparrow was imprisoned at Governor’s Island, N.Y. Thomas Sparrow (1819-1884), a native of New Bern and resident of … Continue reading

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