Libby Prison Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond , Virginia , during the American Civil War . It gained an infamous reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions under which officer prisoners from the Union Army were kept . Prisoners suffered from disease , malnutrition and a high mortality rate . By 1863 , one thousand prisoners were crowded into large open rooms on two floors , with open , barred windows leaving them exposed to weather and temperature extremes . The building was built before the war as a food warehouse . The structure was moved to Chicago in 1889 to serve as a war museum . It was dismantled in 1899 , with its pieces sold as souvenirs . Overview . The prison was located in a three - story brick warehouse on two levels on Tobacco Row at the waterfront of the James River . Prior to use as a jail , the warehouse had been leased by Capt . Luther Libby and his son George W . Libby . They operated a ship ' s chandlery and grocery business . The Confederate government started to use the facility as a hospital and prison in 1861 , reserving it for Union officers in 1862 because of the influx of prisoners . It contained eight low - ceilinged rooms , each 103 by 42 feet ( 31 . 4 by 12 . 5 metres ) . The second and third floors were used to house prisoners . Windows were barred and open to the elements , increasing the discomfort . Lack of sanitation and overcrowding caused diseases . From 700 prisoners in 1862 , the facility had a total of 1 , 000 by 1863 . Mortality rates were high in 1863 and 1864 , aggravated by shortages of food and supplies . Because of the high death toll , Libby Prison is generally regarded as second in notoriety to Andersonville Prison in Georgia . In 1864 , the Confederacy moved Union prisoners to Macon , Georgia . The Confederate Army then used the prison for military criminals . After the occupation of Richmond in 1865 , Union authorities used the prison for detention of former Confederate officers . They reportedly improved conditions over those for Union officers or prisoners of war on both sides generally during the war . In 1880 , the building was purchased by Southern Fertilizer Company . Nine years later , it was bought by Charles F . Gunther , a candymaker , disassembled , and moved to Chicago , Illinois . There it was rebuilt and renovated to serve as a war museum ( 1889 - 1895 ) . After the museum failed to draw enough crowds , the building was dismantled and was sold in pieces as souvenirs . “ The building is of brick , with a front of near one hundred and forty feet , and one hundred feet deep . It is divided into nine rooms ; the ceilings are low , and ventilation imperfect ; the windows are barred , through which the windings of James River and the tents of Belle Isle may be seen . ” Prisoner conditions . A group of Union surgeons upon their release from Libby published an account in 1863 of their experiences in treating Libby inmates in the attached hospital : " Thus we have over ten per cent of the whole number of prisoners held classed as sick men , who need the most assiduous and skilful attention ; yet , in the essential matter of rations , they are receiving nothing but corn bread and sweet potatoes . Meat is no longer furnished to any class of our prisoners except to the few officers in Libby hospital , and all sick or well officers or privates are now furnished with a very poor article of corn bread in place of wheat bread , unsuitable diet for hospital patients prostrated with diarrhea , dysentery and fever , to say nothing of the balance of startling instances of individual suffering and horrid pictures of death from protracted sickness and semi - starvation we have had thrust upon our observation . " They said that prisoners were always asking for more food and that many were only half clad . Prisoners brought in who were already ill often died quickly , even in one night . Due to the " systematic abuse , neglect and semi - starvation , " the surgeons believed that thousands of men would be left " permanently broken down in their constitutions " if they survived . In one story they noted that 200 wounded prisoners brought in from the battle of Chickamauga had been given only a few hard crackers during their three days ' journey , but suffered two more days in the prison without medical attention or food . An article in the " Daily Richmond Enquirer " vividly described prison conditions in 1864 : " Libby takes in the captured Federals by scores , but lets none out ; they are huddled up and jammed into every nook and corner ; at the bathing troughs , around the cooking stoves , everywhere there is a wrangling , jostling crowd ; at night the floor of every room they occupy in the building is covered , every square inch of it , by uneasy slumberers , lying side by side , and heel to head , as tightly packed as if the prison were a huge , improbable box of nocturnal sardines . " Lieut . Colonel Federico Fernández Cavada , who belonged to the Hot Air Balloon Unit of the Union Army , was captured during the Battle of Gettysburg and sent to Libby . Released in 1864 , Fernandez Cavada later that year published a book titled " LIBBY LIFE : Experiences of A Prisoner of War in Richmond , VA , 1863 - 64 " , in which he told of the cruel treatment in the Confederate prison . In the introduction , Cavada wrote : " It was a beautiful country through which we had just passed , but it had presented no charms to weary eyes that were compelled to view it through a line of hostile bayonets ; we felt but little sympathy for the beautiful ; on our haggard countenances only this was written : " Give us rest , and food . " Many memoirs published after the war described harrowing conditions . " Such memoirs should be read in context , however . After the war , former Union prisoners were not granted pensions unless they had also sustained injuries or suffered from disease during their service . To muster support for their plight , the veterans mounted a public - relations campaign that included wildly sensationalistic " recollections " owing much to the dime novels of the " Wild West . " When the United States government granted universal pensions beginning in 1890 , these memoirs virtually disappeared . " The Libby Chronicle . The " Libby Chronicle " was a newsletter written by the inmates of Libby during the summer of 1863 ; it was read aloud by the editor every Friday morning . Composed in the midst of hardship and brutality , the newsletter expressed irreverent humor . Issue number two included a poem entitled “ Castle Thunder , ” with a " dryly witty perspective " on prison life : " We have eighteen kinds of food , though ‘ twill stagger your belief , " " Because we have bread , beef and soup , then bread , soup and beef ; " " Then we sep ’ rate around with ’ bout twenty in a group , " " And thus we get beef , soup and bread , and beef , bread and soup ; " " For dessert we obtain , though it costs us nary red , " " Soup , bread and beef , ( count it well ) and beef and soup and bread . " Such poems helped keep up morale among the prisoners . The following week ’ s issue begins with a segment called “ Encore , ” which reads , “ Yielding to pressing demand from those who heard and from many who did not hear the poem entitled ‘ Castle Thunder , ’ we reproduce it this week . We are certain that the uproarious laughter caused by this facetious article . . . has done more good in Libby than cartloads of Confederate medicine . ” Commonly expressed was hostility toward President Abraham Lincoln , whom they considered responsible for their being held so long in prison . The editors of " The Chronicle " rebuked such sentiments , saying , “ these officers evince more the spirit of spoiled children than that of manly courage and intelligence which should characterize the actions of the American soldier . ” Men made independent efforts to secure release . For instance , one young surgeon wrote a letter to the editor of the " Richmond Sentinel , " promising that if he were released he would find the editor ’ s “ Rebel son ” and look after him until he could be returned home . " Chronicle " editors reported that “ this same officer was poltroon enough to offer to leave the Federal army if the Confederates would do something for him . But the Rebels didn ’ t want the poor Judas , and he finds he has eaten dirt without advantage . ” Escape from Libby . In February 1864 , more than 100 prisoners took part in the Libby Prison Escape . The " Charleston Mercury " carried the story : Three tunnels were built : the first ran into water and was abandoned . The second hit the buildings log foundation . The third reached a small carriage shed 15 m ( 50 ft ) away . Escapes were regular occurrences at both Federal and Confederate prisons . Letters from Libby . " The Christian Recorder " and other papers sometimes included letters from prisoners . The rules of Libby Prison limited men to six lines for their letters to family and friends . Here is an example : " My Dear Wife . - Yours received - no hopes of exchange - send corn starch - want socks - no money - rheumatism in left shoulder - pickles very good - send sausages - God bless you - kiss the baby - Hail Columbia ! - Your devoted husband . " In popular culture . In the television miniseries " North and South " , General George Hazard was taken prisoner at Libby Prison only to be rescued by his best friend , Orry Main . However , in the original novel , " Love and War " by John Jakes , it is George ' s brother , Billy Hazard , who is imprisoned at Libby . He is rescued by his friend , Confederate officer Charles Main . After the war . In 1907 , nails from Libby prison were melted down and used to cast the Pokahuntas Bell for the Jamestown Exposition . The front door of Libby Prison is currently on display in the museum at The American Civil War Center , located at the former Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond .