Civil War Prison Camps
The reason for 56,000 deaths
What is a Civil War Prison Camp? And which Prison Camps were better? North or South?
A civil war prison camp was a place that POWs (prisoners of war) were held captive. A prison camp did not have to take place in a prison. They could be local jails, former forts, Hospitals, old buildings, barracks enclosed by high fences, warehouses, barns. However when the number of prisoners started to increase prisons started to be specifically made for POWs. To name a few Florence, Millen and Andersonville. Prison camps started out a lot better in the beginning of war than they were towards the end. This is because the number of prisoners started to increases. The prisons were not prepared for the number of POWs. Due to this poor planning, the prisons were low on food,overcrowded and filled with disease. The truth is, prison camps on both sides were ran poorly, terribly overcrowded, and filled with disease. According to the article, U.S. Civil War Prison Camps Claimed Thousands "12% of captives held in northern camps died and 15.5% of captives died in southern camps." About, 30,000 soldiers in Confederate prisons died and 26,000 soldiers in Union prisons died. As you can see the death rate was higher in southern prisons. And even though both the north and the south's prisons were far from decent most northern prisons were still better than southern ones. Since the southern prisons were treating the union soldiers worse than the northern prisons were treating the confederate soldiers there was even more tension between the north and south. The north wanted the people in charge of the northern prisons to stoop down to the souths prisons level and treat the confederate soldiers badly.
What is a POW and what was life like in prison.
What was the Prisoner Exchange?
The Biography of Henry Wirz
Conclusion
Sources
"U.S. Civil War Prison Camps Claimed Thousands." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.
"Civil War Prison Camps - Civil War Academy - American Civil War." Civil War Academy American Civil War. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.
Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations, n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.
"Henry Wirz." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 25 May 2016.