The worst prison camp during the war.

[Mr King]

Nevermind. I dont want to discuss anymore problems right now.

[Baggage Handler #2]

The worst prison camp is just like the most dangerous big game animal.

It's whichever one you were inside at the time.

[ole]

Rather odd. A new thread without an opening post.

ole

[Mr King]

It is odd, sir. I had the post typed then erased it all. I just didn't want to start up a flaming thread and start any fights neither. I tried to delete the entire thread but didn't see the option anywhere.

[30th_il]

Doh!!!!!!!!!!

[whitworth]

McClellan by chance?

Every prison camp was bad. Soldier died in regular army camps. Find a prison camp, and it is a polluted ground, offering disease and death.

[ole]

Mr. King:

It is most gratifying that you didn't want to start a flaming fight. However, it needn't have gone there if others didn't push it. Please don't feel quite so reticent. If it goes down in flames, then it does. If you want to talk about it and get some feedback, go for it.

The all-time worst was Ft. Sumter near Andersonville, Georgia. A very close second on the list was near Elmira, N.Y. Camp Douglas, if not third, pressed close.

As others have noted, the degree of badness is a hair's-breadth. It would seem that the major problem with POW camps is that the most useless often ended up running them. And that most had more important things to do than working on the care of prisoners.

ole

[M E Wolf]

Dear List Members,

I will have to agree with the previous postings; all prison camps were not the best places to be. However, due to the availability of food, supplies and medicines; they were a bit more healthy, in the North. With the Sanitary Commission; the issue of sanitation was their mission and took no sides in the conflict. Their mission was to administer help to those in need, e.g. hospitals and prisons.

The Confederate prisons suffered worse; as the CSA struggled to feed and cloth their own troops; the prisoners were an extra burden. They were ill equiped to handle the huge amount of prisoners. This had been an issue in the beginning; thus the 'parole' of prisoners and or prisoner exchanges. Who were kept more often than not; was the average soldier.

Should the CSA prisoners have been fed and or sheltered better than their own soldiers; as has been the argument; I shiver with the thought of the appearance of the CSA's military, free and fighting.

Just some thoughts.

Respectfully submitted for consideration,
M. E. Wolf

[cedarstripper]

Originally Posted by ole

The all-time worst was Ft. Sumter near Andersonville, Georgia. A very close second on the list was near Elmira, N.Y. Camp Douglas, if not third, pressed close.

What was it about Elmira that you found especially bad?

Cedarstripper

[larry_cockerham]

Civil war prisons were a bit like slavery, not a good thing. GG grandpa Corp. Elihu Weaver, 5th NC Cav was captured in October 1863 in Philadelphia, Tennessee. From there he was transported to a newly opened Rock Island Arsenal on the river between Iowa and Illinois. Must not have been such a bad place aside from the temperature. After only a few months he was transferred to Point Lookout, Maryland, not so great a place. 12,000 or so Confederates a long way from home. Elihu lost a lung, but survived. I'm one of hundreds of descendants. Wife's ancestor Corp. James R. Whaley 51st Georgia was taken to Ft. Delaware from the Devil's Den at Gettysburg. Not exactly the Hilton, but he made it back to Alabama breathing and in one piece. Even though they were over-crowded, the yankee prisons had to be generally superior to southern ones, mostly because of climate and logistical support.