Importance Of Prison Camps In The Civil War

Civil War Prison Camps The Civil War prison camps were very important in the Civil War because they were responsible for claiming thousands of lives from both sides. What were these prison camps used in the Civil War? They were places where each side would keep most of their Prisoners of War, or more commonly known as P.O.W.’s, incarcerated. The camps were usually coastal fortifications, old buildings, existing jails, or barracks enclosed with high fences. Conditions at these camps were very harsh and the mortality rate, or the chance you have of getting out alive, was on average 27%. There were more than 150 prison camps established throughout the Civil War. They were all filled way past their capacity limits so inmates were very crowded with very little provisions and surrounded by disease. Three infamous prison camps are the Union’s Fort Delaware, Elmira Prison in New York, and Camp Sumter or Andersonville Prison. An estimated 56,000 men perished in prison camps during the Civil War. (National Geographic Society) The Union’s Fort Delaware, which was nicknamed “The Fort Delaware Death Pen”, was completed being built in 1859. The camp was located on Pea Path Island. The prison was in the shape of a pentagon and covered a total of six acres. The fort was feared but the fort’s own commandant, General Albin F. Schoepf, along
with the Confederates. Unlike most Civil War prison camps, the inmates here were held in wooden barracks which provided them with shelter. Most of the inmates here were captured at the Battle of Gettysburg. After the Battle of Gettysburg, the number of prisoners was at 13,000, leaving food and water very scarce. The camp was infested with smallpox, scurvy, and severe malnutrition. Randolph Shotwell, a former prisoner at Fort Delaware, said “The bacon was rusty and slimy, the soup was slop… filled with white worms a half inch long.” Another prisoner said that food was so scarce and of such poor quality, that he shrank from 140 lbs to 80 lbs during his imprisonment. An estimated 2,700 prisoners died at Fort Delaware. (Fort Delaware Civil War Prison) Another infamous Civil War prison camp is Elmira Prison located in Elmira, New York. The first prisoners arrived at Elmira on July 6th, 1864 and the last prisoners left on July 11th, 1865. The barrack space for the prisoners was large enough to hold about 5,000 prisoners, but an estimated 10,000 prisoners arrived within the first few months. The extras were forced to live along the Chemung River in tents. The camp was filled with extreme dysentery, typhoid, pneumonia, smallpox, and lack of nourishing food. Another leading cause of death was lack of doctors and flooding along the Chemung River. (Chemung County History- Elmira Prison Camp) 12,122 prisoners were enlisted at Elmira prison and out of those, 2,963 prisoners died, giving the camp a 25% mortality rate. The site of this prison is now a residential area marked with only a roadside sign. “Yet even the most striking contrast between Andersonville and Elmira should be apparent to even the most casual observer. Elmira, a city with excellent railroad connections, was located in a region where food, medicine, clothing, building materials, and fuel were in abundant supply. None of this could be said of Andersonville. Hence, Elmira became a symbol of death for different reasons.” Said Michael Horigan, a historian and the author of Elmira: Death Camp of the North. (Elmira Prison Camp History) Camp Sumter, also known as Andersonville Prison, is another infamous Civil War prison camp. Camp Sumter was a Confederate prison located in southern Georgia. It was built eight months prior to the end of the Civil War and was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners but ended up with more than 32,000 prisoners. The camp existed for 14 months and the inmates suffered from contaminated water, no shelter from the blazing hot sun or the freezing cold winter rain, and various diseases. Camp Sumter was the largest Civil War prison camp in the South, sitting on 26.5 acres. About 12,920 men died here at Camp Sumter out the the total 45,000 Union prisoners who were sent here. Today Camp Sumter is a National Historic Site in which people can travel and go visit. The site includes the prison, the cemetery, and a museum. The commander of Camp Sumter, Henry Wirz, was tried and executed for his crimes after the war was over. Wirz said, “I know what orders are, Major. I am being hanged for obeying them.” The mortality rate at Camp Sumter was 29%. (A&E Television Networks) As you can tell, the conditions at the Civil War prison camps were not good, and the chance of survival was small.
There were many prison camps used during the Civil War and they were all terrible. The prison camps during the Civil War helped claim the lives of thousands of the deaths from the Civil War, and most people don’t know how much of an impact the prison camps had on the total number of deaths throughout the Civil War. They killed thousands of soldiers on both sides, making an impact on each side’s soldier count, and adding another fear to the soldier’s head. The prison camps used during the Civil War killed as many as 56,000
people.