Impact of Prison Atrocity Reports: Andersonville, Elmira and Elsewhere

Pat Young

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Long Island, NY
I have a new article on the scholarly site Emerging Civil War. As the Civil War was ending, stories of atrocities filled the newspapers in the North and South. After the war, prisoner accounts of time spent in the camps became a genre in book publishing.
https://emergingcivilwar.com/2021/0...-prison-camps-increased-post-war-antagonisms/

Do you have a link or reference to the order per your article in regards to "the decision by Union authorities to reduce rations at Elmira prison and elsewhere to match what was given to Union soldiers at Andersonville"? I have seen this charge made a number of times over the years But have never seen an order produced from Stanton or anyone else that ordered such reduction.

Colonel William H. Hoffman, the Federal Commissary General of Prisons, made a recommendation to Secretary of War Stanton that prisoner's rations be reduced but without "depriving them of the food necessary to keep them in health" that eventually morphed into the same "ration to that issued by the rebel Government to their own troops."


"Washington, D. C., May 19, 1864.
Honorable E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington, D.C.:
SIR: I have the honor to suggest that the ration as now issued to prisoners of war may be considerably reduced without depriving them of the food necessary to keep them in health, and I respectfully recommend that hereafter the ration be composed as follows, viz: Hard bread, 14 ounces, or 16 ounces soft bread; corn-meal, 16 ounces; beef, 14 ounces; pork or bacon, 10 ounces; beans, 6 quarts per 100 men, or rice, 8 pounds per 100 men; sugar, 12 pounds per 100 men; coffee, 5 pounds ground or 7 pounds raw per 100 men, or tea, 1 pound per 100 men; soap, 4 pounds per 100 men; salt, 2 quarts per 100 men; vinegar, 3 quarts per men; molasses, 1 quart per 100 men; potatoes, 15 pounds per 100 men. I also recommend that ration of sugar and coffee, as above fixed, be issued only every other day.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. HOFFMAN, Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners"
O.R., Series II, Vol VII, Part 1 pp. 150-151


General Halleck, who had received a copy of Hoffman's request to Stanton, also made suggestion to "dispense with tea, coffee, and sugar and reduce the ration to that issued by the rebel Government to their own troops."
Halleck's request was agreed to by both the federal officer in charge of subsistance and the Secretary of War, Stanton:

"MAY 19, 1864.
Respectfully referred as above directed. Why not dispense with tea, coffee, and sugar and reduce the ration to that issued by the rebel Government to their own troops?
H. W. HALLECK,
Major-General and Chief of Staff. "
Ibid., p.151


The acting Surgeon-General concurred with Halleck on the reduced rations for healthy prisoners but objected to it applying to sick or wounded prisoners. Halleck approved the modification of the ration order to include "tea, coffee, and sugar" for those prisoners:

"I concur with the views expressed by Major-General Halleck.
J. P. TAYLOR,
Commissary-General of Subsistence.
_________________________

I respectfully approve of the reduction of the ration as suggested by Major-General Halleck.
W. HOFFMAN,
Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.
_________________________________

SURGEON-GENERAL'S OFFICE, May 19, 1864.

The reduction proposed by Major-General Halleck could be carried out with the exception of the ration for the sick and wounded, who would require that proposed by Colonel Hoffman or more than its equivalent in medicine and hospital items.
Very respectfully,
J. K. BARNES,
Acting Surgeon-General.
_________________________

MAY 27, 1864.
Proposed ration, except that sick and wounded are to have tea, coffee, and sugar, approved.
H. W. HALLECK,
Major-General and Chief of Staff.
________________________________

The ration approved by the Chief of Staff and Surgeon-General approved.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War. "
Ibid., p.151
 
Well done, sir.

There were actually surprisingly few prisoner memoirs to come out of Andersonville in the years immediately following the war; only about a dozen or so were published between 1865 and 1870, and almost all of those disappeared from public eye with nary a ripple, with the exception of Robert Kellogg's book. Except for his, they all went out of print fairly quickly and I don't think there were any published at all between 1871 and 1878. Then John McElroy's book, for better or worse, became a best seller when it was published in 1879, and opened up a whole glut of "memoirs" by prisoners (and in some cases, men pretending to be former prisoners) that drew heavily on McElroy's frequently fabricated accounts.

Andersonville National Historic Site and the NPS are currently trying to get "woke" and include information on both the African American POWs and the African American community in the surrounding neighborhood in their presentation and signage. There was actually a freedman's school at the prison site not long after the War ended. They're currently in the process of redoing their signage, which is a good thing. There were just over 100 black POWs at Camp Sumter, and only a single mention of a black Civil War POW in the exhibits at the Museum, and that particular guy was not at Andersonville, and his ultimate fate is unknown (see photo).

@Copperhead-mi, I came across this Masters' thesis on Hoffman and it firmly blames him for most of the deaths at Elmira. Here's the thesis, as stated on page 10:


The thesis of this treatise is that William Hoffman changed in his actions toward the
Confederate prisoners during the last year of the war. It is the effect of these actions that caused
significant problems for the Confederate captives, especially those located at Elmira. It will be
shown that Hoffman’s actions did affect the death toll at Elmira and that its reputation as
“Hellmira” is at least in part due to Hoffman. Using The War Of The Rebellion: A Compilation
Of The Official Records Of The Union And Confederate Armies, this thesis will show that certain
decisions regarding Elmira were Hoffman’s alone and that those decisions contributed to nearly
3,000 deaths in twelve months

https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2174&context=etd

20210710_160054.jpg
 
@Copperhead-mi, I came across this Masters' thesis on Hoffman and it firmly blames him for most of the deaths at Elmira. Here's the thesis, as stated on page 10:


The thesis of this treatise is that William Hoffman changed in his actions toward the
Confederate prisoners during the last year of the war. It is the effect of these actions that caused
significant problems for the Confederate captives, especially those located at Elmira. It will be
shown that Hoffman’s actions did affect the death toll at Elmira and that its reputation as
“Hellmira” is at least in part due to Hoffman. Using The War Of The Rebellion: A Compilation
Of The Official Records Of The Union And Confederate Armies, this thesis will show that certain
decisions regarding Elmira were Hoffman’s alone and that those decisions contributed to nearly
3,000 deaths in twelve months

https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2174&context=etd
Thank you for the link. I will definitely read it in a couple of minutes. I'm not disputing Hoffman's orders but rather the order "by Union authorities to reduce rations at Elmira prison and elsewhere to match what was given to Union soldiers at Andersonville."

This alleged order has been tossed around for a number of years but nobody seems to be able to come up with it. The closest order to that is Halleck's suggestion with Stanton's approval, to reduce the daily ration of Confederate prisoners "to that issued by the rebel Government to their own troops."
 
1630345456870.png



"It is not known whether Private Wood survived his imprisonment."

It took me about five (5) minutes to find out he did survive. In his service file there was a claim that he had been "assassinated by the rebels" but that turned out not to be true.

Strange with all the resources at hand that the NPS could not find this-

"...he was wounded and captured. Released and returned to company June 13, 65"

Wood, Wilson (19) (3).jpg


Wood, Wilson (19) (1).jpg

Wood, Wilson (19) (2).jpg


 
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Difficulties arose when Forrest took Straight's men prisoner during the mounted infantry raid into Alabama. Then the US had many exchange credits after the Vicksburg surrender. But the Vicksburg parolees appeared in the ranks at Chattanooga, or deserted through the lines. At that point Grant and the War Department concluded the Confederates were cheating, and that the exchange system was going to cause very high casualty rates, especially among conscripts in the Confederacy.
The death rate was high in POW camps on both sides, but the rate of battle casualties was also increasing and there was no evidence that the Confederate government was going to quit short of nearly exterminating poor white men in the Confederate states.
The people doing the dying in the Confederate armies had almost no influence with the officers and politicians running the war.
 
Do you have a link or reference to the order per your article in regards to "the decision by Union authorities to reduce rations at Elmira prison and elsewhere to match what was given to Union soldiers at Andersonville"? I have seen this charge made a number of times over the years But have never seen an order produced from Stanton or anyone else that ordered such reduction.

Colonel William H. Hoffman, the Federal Commissary General of Prisons, made a recommendation to Secretary of War Stanton that prisoner's rations be reduced but without "depriving them of the food necessary to keep them in health" that eventually morphed into the same "ration to that issued by the rebel Government to their own troops."


"Washington, D. C., May 19, 1864.
Honorable E. M. STANTON, Secretary of War, Washington, D.C.:
SIR: I have the honor to suggest that the ration as now issued to prisoners of war may be considerably reduced without depriving them of the food necessary to keep them in health, and I respectfully recommend that hereafter the ration be composed as follows, viz: Hard bread, 14 ounces, or 16 ounces soft bread; corn-meal, 16 ounces; beef, 14 ounces; pork or bacon, 10 ounces; beans, 6 quarts per 100 men, or rice, 8 pounds per 100 men; sugar, 12 pounds per 100 men; coffee, 5 pounds ground or 7 pounds raw per 100 men, or tea, 1 pound per 100 men; soap, 4 pounds per 100 men; salt, 2 quarts per 100 men; vinegar, 3 quarts per men; molasses, 1 quart per 100 men; potatoes, 15 pounds per 100 men. I also recommend that ration of sugar and coffee, as above fixed, be issued only every other day.

I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your obedient servant,
W. HOFFMAN, Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners"
O.R., Series II, Vol VII, Part 1 pp. 150-151


General Halleck, who had received a copy of Hoffman's request to Stanton, also made suggestion to "dispense with tea, coffee, and sugar and reduce the ration to that issued by the rebel Government to their own troops."
Halleck's request was agreed to by both the federal officer in charge of subsistance and the Secretary of War, Stanton:

"MAY 19, 1864.
Respectfully referred as above directed. Why not dispense with tea, coffee, and sugar and reduce the ration to that issued by the rebel Government to their own troops?
H. W. HALLECK,
Major-General and Chief of Staff. "
Ibid., p.151


The acting Surgeon-General concurred with Halleck on the reduced rations for healthy prisoners but objected to it applying to sick or wounded prisoners. Halleck approved the modification of the ration order to include "tea, coffee, and sugar" for those prisoners:

"I concur with the views expressed by Major-General Halleck.
J. P. TAYLOR,
Commissary-General of Subsistence.
_________________________

I respectfully approve of the reduction of the ration as suggested by Major-General Halleck.
W. HOFFMAN,
Colonel Third Infantry and Commissary-General of Prisoners.
_________________________________

SURGEON-GENERAL'S OFFICE, May 19, 1864.

The reduction proposed by Major-General Halleck could be carried out with the exception of the ration for the sick and wounded, who would require that proposed by Colonel Hoffman or more than its equivalent in medicine and hospital items.
Very respectfully,
J. K. BARNES,
Acting Surgeon-General.
_________________________

MAY 27, 1864.
Proposed ration, except that sick and wounded are to have tea, coffee, and sugar, approved.
H. W. HALLECK,
Major-General and Chief of Staff.
________________________________

The ration approved by the Chief of Staff and Surgeon-General approved.
EDWIN M. STANTON,
Secretary of War. "
Ibid., p.151

Has it occurred to anyone the North's Anaconda Plan worked to strangle the South along with the men away in service not being able to produce necessary food and essentials caused such shortages to the people of the South? Hoffman, himself had been a p.o.w.
 

Abstract

The conduct of American military physicians in prisoner of war (POW) camps has been called into question by the abuse scandals at Abu Ghraib and Guantánamo Bay. This essay explores the experiences of the first U.S. military physicians to confront POW patients in large numbers—events that occurred during the American Civil War. While POWs received sub-standard care in camps north and south, the war also saw the issuance of the first document to outline the rights of POWs. This ambivalence toward the proper care and treatment of the POW is evident in the career of Dr. Eugene Sanger, the first Union surgeon at the prison camp in Elmira, New York. Sanger demonstrated both concern about the sanitary condition of the camp and pride in the deaths of POWs as furthering the overall war aims. His cruelty attracted some censure, but Sanger never faced disciplinary action. He was honorably discharged and went on to become the Surgeon General of his home state. This article places his actions at Elmira in the context of medical ethics, Army orders, and Northern opinion in 1864, and it will argue that the lack of Federal response to Eugene Sanger's poor record while serving at the prison set a precedent for inferior medical care of POWs by American military physicians.

It has been reported that this fellow bragged that he had killed more rebels than any line officers-----Is this true?
 
I have a new article on the scholarly site Emerging Civil War. As the Civil War was ending, stories of atrocities filled the newspapers in the North and South. After the war, prisoner accounts of time spent in the camps became a genre in book publishing.
https://emergingcivilwar.com/2021/0...-prison-camps-increased-post-war-antagonisms/
Interesting article. Regarding Wirz, the Winder family were also complicit extending their involvement from Andersonville to Millen, although it could be argued that they were trying to alleviate the over-crowding and associated issues at Andersonville by building Camp Lawton.
 
I believe both sides could have done a better job of treating prisoners in a more humane manner. The Confederacy did have supply issues and a hard enough time finding supplies for its men in the field much less the prisoners it captured but the lack of adequate shelter at Andersonville and the sanitary conditions caused countless deaths that could have been avoided. The death rate at Andersonville was 28%. The Union was guilty as well with its management of camps like Elmira and Camp Douglas which had death rates of around 25%. Overall, the death rate in both Confederate and Union prison camps was pretty even - 13% of Confederate prisoners and 15% of Union prisoners died in captivity.
 
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