Record #:

10628

Author(s):

Jones, Ora L.

Abstract:

Prison overcrowding and the associated issues of housing, feeding, guarding, and caring for prisoners was a problem for both the North and the South during the Civil War. Relief came from a prisoner exchange agreement in July, 1862 that allowed for the exchange of prisoners within ten days of capture. President Jefferson Davis, CSA, broke this agreement over the issue of captured black soldiers and Major General Henry W. Halleck returned the favor in May 1863 by ordering that all prisoner exchanges were to be stopped. Afterwards, prison conditions on both sides deteriorated rapidly from overcrowding, leading to the deaths of more than 56,000 POWs during the war. The most notorious prisons were Andersonville (Confederate) and Fort Delaware (Union).

Source:

The State (NoCar F 251 S77), Vol. 38 Issue 11, Nov 1970, p17-18, 24, il

Subject(s):

North Carolina--History--Civil War, 1861-1865--Prisoners and prisons