Elmira Prison Camps
1861-1865
It imprisoned 409,000 soldiers who were captured during the civil war. The system broke down in 1863. More than 30,000 Union soldiers and 26,000 Confederate soldiers died during captivity. Some of the soldiers after being captured had tried to escape from the prison camp. During the outbreak of civil war, the federal government was trying to avoide the prisoner exchanges. President Lincoln had to stop this negotiation and gave the equal rights to prisoners. Thus, Union and Confederate met the agreement to stop the trade, which collapsed in 1863. The federal government suggested Union and confederate to reach an agreement and stop the soldier trade, which affected the soldiers’ life positively and decreased the rates of death during the imprisoned period. The Confederate refused to treat people equally during the exchange period. The Confederate believed that black soldiers had to be returned to the served family, because they were not belonged to the Union Army. At the end of Civil War, SS Suitana took 1900 prisoners North and during the Mississippi River 1500 were killed, due to the explosion. A lot of soldiers were imprisoned, although they were serving for the United States. This was a type of their daily life in prison. Elmira Prison: http://www.censusdiggins.com/prison_elmira.html |