page_title: Elmira Prison
hierarchical_section_title: Elmira Prison
caption_attribution_description: English: Identifier: photographichist07mill (find matches) Title: The photographic history of the Civil War&#160;: thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities Year: 1911 (1910s) Authors: Miller, Francis Trevelyan, 1877-1959 Lanier, Robert S. (Robert Sampson), 1880- Subjects: United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Pictorial works United States -- History Civil War, 1861-1865 Publisher: New York&#160;: Review of Reviews Co. Contributing Library: New York Public Library Digitizing Sponsor: MSN View Book Page: Book Viewer About This Book: Catalog Entry View All Images: All Images From Book Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book. Text Appearing Before Image: ' Text Appearing After Image: COPVRIGMT. 1911, REVIEW OF REVIEWS CO. EVENING ROLI^CALL FOR THE ELMIRA PRISONERS-1864 This pliotofiraph was cherished through half a century by Berry Benson, of the First South Carolina Volun-teer Infantry, ^vho escaped from Elmira by digging a tunnel sixty-six feet long under the tents and stockade.It slunvs the prisoners at evening roll-call for dinner in the winter of 1864. The sergeants in front of theIons line of prisoners are calling the roll. There were both Federal and Confederate sergeants. Elmiraprison contained from the time of its establishment several thousand Confederate prisoners. The barracksin the foreground had been completed only a few days when this picture was made, and up to that timea large number of prisoners had occupied tents. The leaves are gone from the trees, and it is obvious thatthe winter frosts have set in. The tents were unheated. and the inmates suffered severely from the cold.The sentry in the foreground is not paying strict attention to the prison Note About Images Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original work.
context_page_description: Elmira Prison was originally a barracks for "Camp Rathbun" or "Camp Chemung", a key muster and training point for the Union Army during the American Civil War, between 1861 and 1864. The 30-acre site was selected partially due to its proximity to the Erie Railroad and the Northern Central Railway, which crisscrossed in the midst of the city. The Camp fell into disuse as the war progressed, but its "Barracks #3" was converted into a military prison in the summer of 1864. It was the prison holding the largest number of Confederate POWs. Its capacity was 4,000, but it held 12,000 within one month of opening. A different source says that Camp Rathbun had a capacity of 6,000 recruits, but that it was turned into a prison for 10,000 and "the Union Commissary General was given just 10 days to make it happen.
  The prison camp, in use from July 6, 1864, until July 11, 1865, was dubbed "Hellmira" by its inmates. During those 12 months, 2,970 of the 12,100 prisoners died from a combination of malnutrition, continued exposure to harsh winter weather, and disease from the poor sanitary conditions on Foster's Pond, combined with a lack of medical care.
context_section_description: Elmira Prison was originally a barracks for "Camp Rathbun" or "Camp Chemung", a key muster and training point for the Union Army during the American Civil War, between 1861 and 1864. The 30-acre (120,000 m²) site was selected partially due to its proximity to the Erie Railroad and the Northern Central Railway, which crisscrossed in the midst of the city. The Camp fell into disuse as the war progressed, but its "Barracks #3" was converted into a military prison in the summer of 1864. It was the prison holding the largest number of Confederate POWs. Its capacity was 4,000, but it held 12,000 within one month of opening. A different source says that Camp Rathbun had a capacity of 6,000 recruits, but that it was turned into a prison for 10,000 and "the Union Commissary General was given just 10 days to make it happen.
  The prison camp, in use from July 6, 1864, until July 11, 1865 (date of last arrival), was dubbed "Hellmira" by its inmates. During those 12 months, 2,970 of the 12,100 prisoners died from a combination of malnutrition, continued exposure to harsh winter weather, and disease from the poor sanitary conditions on Foster's Pond, combined with a lack of medical care. The camp's dead were prepared for burial and laid to rest at what is now Woodlawn National Cemetery. The cemetery, which is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north of the prison camp site, was designated a National Cemetery in 1877.
  At the end of the war, each prisoner was required to take a loyalty oath and given a train ticket home. The last prisoner left the camp on September 27, 1865. The camp was then closed, demolished, and converted to farmland. A source suggests that the camp was so embarrassing, the site was deliberately destroyed. The area where the prison once stood is residential today, but work is underway to reconstruct the camp.
  One of the conspirators of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, John Surratt, claims to have been in Elmira on a spy mission to gather information about the prison when Lincoln was shot. Upon hearing the news, he fled to Montreal, Quebec.
caption: Union prisoner of war camp for detaining civilians and military personnel of the Confederate States of America
exif: {}