by Myrna Martin
May 3, 2024

No matter the time period, the brutalities of war exist and the Civil War was no exception. This article is a review of the April 3 Historical Horizons lecture “The Worst of the Worst: The Story of the Confederate POW Camp at Belle Isle in Richmond During the Civil War” by Derek Maxfield.

Thousands of men were tortured, starved, and afflicted with diseases in prison camps scattered amongst the North and the South during the Civil War. Professor Maxfield stated, “I wanted us to reevaluate whether Andersonville is actually the worst of the worst, or if Belle Isle should have that reputation.” He added, “Very little thought was given to what we do when we take prisoners. If you go to war, it is what you expect.”

After the Battle of Bull Run, prisoners were taken, informally so, through an exchange on the battlefield. It wasn’t until April of 1862, after the Battle of Shiloh, that the question was asked of what was going to happen with all of the prisoners taken? There was not enough transportation to get the wounded help, let alone get the prisoners moved as well. This turned into quite an emergency, so any place they could find they used, such as old prisons that were run down, fair grounds, etc. There was no food or medicine, and no supply network in place. Prisoner of war camps were made on islands and peninsulas where it would be difficult to escape. In the early stages people were held prisoner with a big circle drawn on the ground. Then a line of soldiers would guard them around it. There would be nothing inside the palisades, just barren stockades and barren ground. There might be a big fence with maybe a stream through it. There was no shelter, no tents, no barracks. Because the soldiers were desperate for cover and to find some relief from the heat they would burrow into the ground. Unfortunately, they would then get afflicted with chiggers that would burrow into their skin. Maxfield stated, “So basically, you take thousands of prisoners, throw them onto a piece of ground with a fence around it, and hope for the best.”

In Elmira things were marginably better but still horrible. There were stockades with tents and barracks. The weather was also a bit nicer in the Southern Tier of Western New York. In previous wars such as the Napoleonic Wars or the Mexican War, there were rough exchanges. There were formulas that were followed that would allow these exchanges, such as a man for a man, or a certain amount of privates for a general. Union and Confederate soldiers had fought in these wars as well, and that is what they were used to, and that was the “easiest model for them to adopt.” However, Abraham Lincoln was absolutely against talking about exchanging prisoners. He was against it, because he did not recognize the southern states seceding from the union, and that they were rebelling. He would not even give them talks, because if he did that, that meant he acknowledged them as successors. They were in rebellion of national authority, but eventually after the Battle of Shiloh he was more or less forced to deal with the prisoner problem.

This is when the Dix Hill Cartel was formed. These were agents from the North and the South who used a past formula to deal with prisoners. At first it was a good thing that emptied out the earliest of these POW prisons. A lot of trauma and suffering had happened already within these early prisons. But, when these prisons were emptied out no thought was given to the question of if they would need them again. The Emancipation Proclamation created another set of problems because it let African Americans become soldiers. Since the South viewed them as property, they were not allowed to be exchanged, and more often than not they were shot instead of becoming prisoners of war. Exchanges start to break down, and as the war continued, the southern armies could not replace the soldiers that had been killed. If the prisoners were being exchanged back to the South that meant that their ranks were being replenished. General Grant eventually stopped the exchanges altogether.

The South was very late in trying to come up with formalizing a system, and two men were key in it. In 1862 Colonel William Hoffman formalized prisons to hold captives, and late in 1864 John Winder, who used to be Union Soldier, went over to the Confederate side and became the Provost Marshal of Richmond, VA. He converted old tobacco warehouses into prisons for soldiers, and most POWs were held in the Richmond area. The most famous were Libby Prison, Castle Thunder, and Castle Lightning. These were big warehouses with open flooring. At this time Richmond had serious problems with overcrowding and housing prisoners. Libby Prison had a terrible lice problem that was so bad they covered the floor as if it was a gray carpet.

Belle Isle was surrounded by the fast moving water of the James river. In a dry season you could walk across it and see the rocks, but at other times the water was very swift and dangerous. Officials thought Belle Isle would be good alternative because it was surrounded by the river. They could have artillery facing the camp, and have earth works as deterrents, and if one crossed their barricades they would get shot. It was called a deadline and a prisoner had to stay inside it or be killed. Henry Wirz was a bad tempered man that got his start at Belle Isle. He had a thick German accent and seemed to have the perfect temperament for a commandant. He eventually became the head of Andersonville and was the only man convicted of war crimes and executed. A group called the Raiders would prey on fellow POWs, steal from them, beat them, and kill them. The leader of the Raiders got his start at Belle Isle as well. There were as many as ten thousand POWs on the island and there was no food to forage within the camp. Some soldiers were so hungry, so abused, that they gave up, and would willingly go to the deadline to be shot and killed. Some prisoners escaped, and word started getting out about the horrid conditions within the camps. The Sanitary Commission wanted photographic evidence of the POWS. The pictures that they took showed men who were starving and looked like skeletons. Or as Professor Maxfield stated, “living skeletons.”

The brutalities and pain suffered on both sides of the Civil War affected thousands of individuals. It is a brutal part of our American History, and one that can never, and should never be forgotten.

GCC History Professor Derek Maxfield is the author of the books Man of Fire: William Tecumseh Sherman in the Civil War and Hellmira: The Unions Most Infamous Civil War Prison Camp-Elmira, NY. He is the founder of Rudely Stamp’d Historical Impressions, a theater group that has presented the plays, “Now We Stand By Each Other Always,” “Grant, on the Eve of Victory,” and “Brothers at Odds.” He has had speaking engagements on C-Span, local libraries, Civil War round tables, Civil War societies, and theatrical venues. More information is located at his blog: https://ddmaxfield.com/