Shenandoah Valley Civil War Round Table SVCWRT

Confederate POWs

During the Civil War, there were  nine major prison camps in the North: Alton, Camp Chase, Camp Douglas, Camp Morton, Elmira, Fort Delaware, Johnson Island, Rock Island and Point Lookout.  Several years ago our speaker put out a call for ancestral information, particularly as related to prisoners of war; and was graced with many letters and photos in response.  She compiled these accounts into a self-published book which unfortunately is now out of print.  She also had a lapel pin made that descendents of Confederate POWs could purchase with the proceeds going to preserve Confederate history.  She will have some pins available at the meeting.

This program will be a little different than most of our programs.  Ann Youell will be leading a discussion on Confederate POWs and asks anyone who has family stories or research that they are willing to share to please bring them along.  With our group of learned members there should be plenty of good stories out there.  If you don’t have stories of your own feel free to soak in some.

Bio – Ann Youell

Ann Youell has been a student of the Civil War for years with her focus being on the Confederacy.  She was an active member of the Daughters of the Confederacy for years although she is no longer a member.  She is currently a member of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation and the Battlefield Trust.  Ann is also a full member of the Shenandoah Valley Civil War Era Dancers (the Dancers are a non-profit organization that donate all their earnings to battlefield preservation–as of today the total is over $69,500).  She has also recently joined the Roundtable’s board as Treasurer.

Online Article By The National Park Service

An Introduction to Civil War Prisons

When the Civil War began, neither side expected a long conflict. Although there was no formal exchange system at the beginning of the war, both armies paroled prisoners. Captured men were conditionally released on their oath of honor not to return to battle. This allowed them to return to camps of instruction as noncombatants. It also meant that neither side had to provide for the prisoners’ needs. An exchange system set up in 1862 lasted less than a year. North and South found themselves with thousands of prisoners of war. In the South, captured Union soldiers were first housed in old warehouses and barns. As the number of prisoners increased following the end of regular exchanges in 1863, camps were built specifically as prisons in Florence, South Carolina, Millen and Andersonville, Georgia, and many other locations. Most were wooden stockades enclosing open fields. In the North, officials converted many Federal camps of instruction into prisons. Stockades were placed around Camp Butler in Illinois, Camp Chase in Ohio, and camps at Elmira, New York. Other Confederate prisoners were held at Fort McHenry in Baltimore and Fort Warren in Boston Harbor. The confined soldiers suffered terribly. The most common problems confronting prisoners both North and South were overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate food. Mismanagement by prison officials, as well as by the prisoners themselves, worsened matters. The end of the war saved hundreds of prisoners from an untimely death, but for many the war’s end came too late. Of 194,732 Union soldiers held in Confederate prison camps, some 30,000 died while captive. Union forces held about 220,000 Confederate prisoners, nearly 26,000 of whom died. The mortality rates for some of the Civil War prison camps are shown below.   Comparison of occupancy and mortality at some Northern and Southern military prisons. NPS/Andersonville National Historic Site An Introduction to Civil War Prisons – Andersonville National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)