Evening star., 1953-08-23
Point Lookout Today
Bellies Unpleasant
Civil War History
BY George Kennedy

Bay, and the Potomac meet. is
a quiet spot today.
Gulls reluctantly take to the
air and scold the stroller who
walks beyond the white frame
buildings of the Coast Guard
station to the end of the spit of
sand dividing the bay and river.
vacationers idly fish for the
little Norfolk spot that nibble
the bait at the small pier in
front of the Point Lookout Hotel.
It's an ideal place to get away
from things and take a rest
without going too far. 1t is 81
miles from Washington.
It is a little too quiet on week.
days to suit the proprietor, Evan
gelos P. Martin, who used to be
with the Hotel Washington. He
has so rooms. 38 with baths, and
he always has rooms facing the
water from Monday to Thurs
days. Sometimes he thinks that
Baltimore and Washington res
idents have forgotten about
Point Lookout. which used to be
a favorite place with both.
These are historic waters.
Capt. John Smith of Virginia
rounded the point in 1903.
George Calvert sailed past it a
few years later in his quest for
an area in temperate climate as
the location for the colony he
had long planned.
Passed Over Lightly.
But Point Lookout's chapter
in American history is one of
those unpleasant stories that
school books pass over lightly. 1t
IS told briefly on a granite block
at the base Of tall shaft where
these words are chiseled:
Erected by the United States
in memory of the 1884 Confed-
crate Prisoners Who Died Here. 4"
Nearby is an earlier monu-
ment erected by Maryland in
1876 which tells that they died
in a 16-month period. between
March /, 1864, and June 30, 1865.
On the wall of the hotel is a
large lithograph of the Federal
installations at the point at the
end of the Civil War. There is
the big general hospltal-for
Union troops-with the wards
radiating from a hub like the
spokes of a wheel. The stockade
of the "rebel camp" was up the
bay side of the point above the
spot where the hotel now stands.
The picture shows seven bar
racks for more than 5000 men.
The rest lived in tentS-when
they were finally issued.
Officers Fared Better.
The treatment of the unfor-
tIlnate prisoners who were
brought by river steamers to
Point Lookout was retaliatory.
All we're enlisted men. Confed-
crate officers sent to other
camps Jared better.
Historian William B. HeSSel-
tine tells about it in his Civil
War Prisons" Treatment of
prisoners was comparatively good
in the first two years of the war
But as the bitterness increased
and the cartel on exchanges was
abrogated prisoners on both
sides became victims of resent
ment.
The prisons in the South were
improviSed affairs and as the
number of prisoners grew con-
ditions became worse. The South
did not have physicians enough
to serve It's own troops, and, due
to lack of transportation, it did
not have food enough. The pris-
onerS began to die in great num-
berS from malnutrition and
disease
Stories of the conditions at
AndersonVille and Libby Prisons
caused great indignation in the
North and Secretary of War
Stanton was not concerned if
Confederate prisoners suffered
the same neglect.
Scurvy Became Rampant.
The food allowance was four
ounces of beef or pork for dinner
plus hardtack. For the two other
meals the issue was one pint
of tea, rice and molasseS. Sour
Wy became rampant.
The prisoners were left to
shift for themselves in the open
behind the stockade, victims of
the hot suA and of the winter
gales. Finally tents were issued
for 10000 men.
Conditions at Point Lookout
became controverSial-whether
it was as bad or worse than the
Southern prisons. A sanitary
commission made an inveStiga-
ton and, although the death
rate was 80 per cent, reported
that, because they were getting
the same ration as their guards,
the prisoners were being treated
too we'll.
The commissioner of prisons
gave orders that the men were
not to go naked but that it was
not the intention of the War
Department to have them we'll
clothed.
Sidney Lanier, the Southern
poet who was captured with his
flute in his sleeve, was one of
the prisoners who survived. He
used to entertain his fellows
in misery by piping a tune.
He recorded his experience
In prose-a novel entitled Tiger
Lilies"
1t was with a guilty con-
science that the Government of
the United States finally ap-
propriated funds for the erec-
ton of the monument. Most Of
the bodies have been removed
r L