Confederate prisoners of war at Chattanooga, Tn Rail Yards, waiting to be shipped north to the death camps.
THE IMMORTAL SIX-HUNDRED HERE
On August 20, 1864, a group of 600 Confederate officers were taken from Fort Delaware as prisoners of war. The purpose for this removal, to be shipped to Hilton Head, S.C. There they were place in stockades in front of the Union works at Charleston. Placed in the open, they were shelled by their own men, this lasted over a month! There is no record of any being hit by shells, but three died of starvation!
On October 21, after 45 days under fire, the weakened survivors were removed to Fort Pulaski, Ga. Here they were crowded into the cold damp casements of the fort. On November 19 197 of the men were sent back to Hilton Head to relieve the overcrowding. A ration10 ounces of moldy cornmeal and soured pickles was the only food given for 42 days. Thirteen men died at Fort Pulaski and five at Hilton Head.
The remaining members of the Immortal Six-Hundred were returned to Fort Delaware on March 12, 1865, where an additional twenty-five died. They became famous throughout the South for their adherence to principle, refusing to take the Oath of Allegiance under such adverse circumstances.
Rock Island Prison
A report on March 4, 1864 reported the current prison population was about 7,600. By the end of July 1864, the Confederate Cemetery had a population of over 1,300, fully two-thirds of the prisoner deaths that were to occur during the life of the camp, which had been in existence only eight months. It is estimated that the peak population of the camp, at any one time, was about 8,600.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, December 27, 1864.
* * * "The condition and suffering of the Rebel prisoners at Rock Island is a source of agony to every heart not absolutely dead to the feelings of common humanity and the scantiest Christian mercy. There are from six to eight thousand confined here. Many have taken "the oath" - any oath to save themselves from actual starvation. These released prisoners, though liberated at different intervals of time, all tell the same story. The allowance to each man has been one small loaf of bread (it takes three to make a pound), and a piece of meat two inches square per day. This was the rations! Lately it has been reduced. Think of it reduced! All the released ones say that no man can live on the rations given, and that there are men that would do anything to get enough to eat! Such is the wretched, ravenous condition of these poor starving creatures, that several dogs which have come to the barracks with teams have fallen victims to their hunger, and they are trapping rats and mice for food, actually to save life. Many of them are nearly naked, bare-footed, bare-headed, and without bed-clothes; exposed to ceaseless torture from the chill and pitiless winds of the upper Mississippi. Thus, naked and hungry, and in prison, enduring a wretchedness which no tongue can describe, no language tell, they suffer from day to day - each day their number growing less by death -death, their only comforter - their only merciful visitor!
God in heaven! Shall these things continue? Can we hope for success in our cause? Will a merciful and just God bless and prosper it, if such cruel inhumanity is practiced by our rulers? May we not provoke a terrible and just chastisement at His hands? No Christian heart, knowing the facts, can feel otherwise.
Many charitable persons, influenced by one other motives than common humanity and Christian duty, have sent supplies of clothing to these prisoners, but they have not been permitted to reach them. I have heard of sales of such clothing having been made across the river at Davenport, at very low prices. Is it possible that the authorities at Washington know of and approve these things.
A good many have taken the oath, stating afterwards to citizens that they did so really to save them from starvation. I learn that there are about five thousand confined here, who have resolved to die rather than do so. Although they are wrong, is there not a sublime heroism in the adherence of these men, amid such trials, to a cause which they believe to be right?"
This exposure was denounced by a Chicago paper as "An infamous Rebel falsehood," and "an attempt to justify the Rebels in starving our prisoners." The Chicago journalist may be excused on the ground of ignorance, but not so the officers of the prison; as principals or as tools they committed this outrage on humanity for the sake of their commissions, like the Irish jurors portrayed by Curran, "conscience swung from its moorings, and they sought safety for themselves in the surrender of the victims."
But hunger was not the only cause of suffering, clothing was prohibited. The provost marshal took possession of all boxes and packages addressed to prisoners- these were opened and examined - and until August, 1864, with the exception of some pilfering, usually reached the owner; but after that date, the prisoners were not permitted to receive anything sent by friends or relatives. How much clothing and provisions fell into the hands of the provost marshal and
his men after August, will never be known. What they did with the booty may be readily guessed. On the 22d February, 1865, three Confederate officers arrived, and distributed clothing to the prisoners, but the worst part of the winter had then been endured, for want of that covering the jailors had taken away. I have given my own experience until October, 1864, but I know that the suffering was even more terrible during the following winter. In a climate where the well clothed sentinels were relieved at short intervals to prevent their freezing to death, nature demands a generous food to sustain life; but the last winter in Rock Island prison presented a scene of destitution only to be equaled by a crew of cast-aways in the frozen ocean, and this too where the sound of Sabbath bells were heard. It was a pleasant sound to many who felt that their troubles were nearly ended; it seemed a prelude to the melody that awaited them in a better land. But to those who could not die, whose vitality doomed them to suffer, what a mockery the sound seemed to them; what rebellious thoughts of God's injustice took possession of their souls, and would not down while tortured with the cravings of hunger. I have realized these things. I have noted one day that I tasted no food. It was Sunday the 18th September, 1864. I was recovering from a severe attack of dysentery. I was very hungry. The church bells were ringing as I eagerly watched the great gate of the prison hoping it would open, and the bread wagon would come in, but hour after hour passed away, and there was no sign, evening came on and I gave up all hope. I had lingered near that gate all day. Hunger is delirium, and the gospel is not for the famished body. The good men who sometimes preached for us had had their breakfast. The Government that sent us preachers would not send us bread.
Point Lookout
Point Lookout was a genocidal concentration camp that housed over 52,000 Southerners, with a death count of over 14,000. Because of the topography, drainage was poor, and the area was subject to extreme heat in the summer and cold in the winter. This exacerbated the problems created by inadequate food, clothing, fuel, housing, and medical care. As a result, approximately 3,000 prisoners died there over 22 months. It is estimated that a total of 52,264 (WOR) prisoners, both military and civilian, were held prisoner there. Although it was designed for 10,000 prisoners, during most of its existence it held 12,600 to 20,000 inmates.
More About Point Lookout Prison....HERE
Elmira
"I speak in all reverence when I say that I do not believe such a spectacle was seen before on earth...On they came, a ghastly tide, with skeleton bones and lustreless eyes, and brains, bereft of but one thought, and hearts purged of but one feeling -- the thought of freedom, the love of home." Comment by a resident of Elmira, N.Y. seeing the prisoners arrival.
From the Confederate Veteran
If there ever was a hell on Earth, Elmira Prison was that hell, but it was not a hot one, for the thermometer was often 40 degrees below zero. There were about six thousand Confederate prisoners, mostly from Georgia and the Carolinas. We were housed in long prison buildings, say one hundred and twenty feet long and forty feet wide, three tiers of bunks against each wall. A big coal stove every thirty feet was always kept red hot; but for these stoves, the most of us would have frozen. Around each stove was a chalk mark, five feet from the stove, marking the distance we should keep, so that all could be warm. We were thinly clad and not half of us had even one blanket. Our rations were ten ounces of bread and two ounces of meat per day. My weight fell from 180 to 160 in a month. We invented all kinds of traps and deadfalls to catch rats. Every day Northern ladies came in the prison, some followed by dogs or cats, which the boys would slip aside and choke to death. The ribs of a stewed dog were delicious, and a broiled rat was superb.....
UNION WAR CRIMES AT ELMIRA...HERE
