Bibliograph

Captives in gray, the Civil War prisons of the Union, Roger Pickenpaugh

Type

Label

Captives in gray, the Civil War prisons of the Union, Roger Pickenpaugh

Language

eng

Bibliography note

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-278) and index

resource.governmentPublication

government publication of a state province territory dependency etc

Illustrations

illustrations

Index

index present

Literary Form

non fiction

Main title

Captives in gray

Nature of contents

bibliography

Oclc number

263408664

Responsibility statement

Roger Pickenpaugh

Sub title

the Civil War prisons of the Union

Summary

Perhaps no topic is more heated, and the sources more tendentious, than that of Civil War prisons and the treatment of prisoners of war (POWs). Partisans of each side, then and now, have vilified the other for maltreatment of their POWs, while seeking to excuse its own distressing record of prisoner of war camp mismanagement, brutality, and incompetence. It is only recently that historians have turned their attention to this contentious topic in an attempt to sort the wheat of truth from the chaff of partisan rancor. Roger Pickenpaugh has previously studied a Union prison camp in careful dread (Camp Chase) and now turns his attention to the Union record in its entirety, to investigate variations between camps and overall prison policy and to determine as nearly as possible what actually happened in the admittedly over-crowded, under-supplied, and poorly-administered camps. He also attempts to determine what conditions resulted from conscious government policy or were the product of local officials and situations

Table Of Contents

"Arrangements should be at once made" : plans and prisoners, 1861 -- "I fear they will prove an elephant" : the first wave of prisoners, 1862 -- "All seem rejoiced at the idea of going" : prisoner exchange, 1862-63 -- "In view of the awful vortex" : the collapse of the cartel and the second wave of prisoners -- "The first time I ever desired to be in a penitentiary" : capture and transport -- "Nothing to do & nothing to do it with" : the constant battle with boredom -- "i had rather bee hear then to bee a marching" : keepers in blue -- "Don't be so hasty and you may get out" : the possibility of escape -- "Almost starving in a land of plenty" : rations and retaliation -- "Inevitable death awaited its victims" : the health of the prisoners -- "Our honor could in no way be compromised" : the road to release

Classification