Two Nations, Under God
Two, Ever Divisible
Texas, Ever Sided, Ever Stubborn
Power Doesn't Always Need Weapons
Prisoners Of War: Worse Than The Battle Field
Camp Groce; Once Helpful, Then Murderous, Forever Stanied
-Camp Groce, despite the concerns for humane conditions, reopened in 1863 as a POW camp
-Prisoners from the Battle of Galveston, and the First and Second Battles of Sabine Pass suffered there.
-Camp Groce became the second largest POW camp in Texas
Camp Ford; 7 Percent
-Camp Ford used to be a conscription camp.
-Camp Ford is located near Tyler, Texas, and was opened in 1863.
-Housing was insufficient by 1864, when the prison reached a population of 5,000 inmates.
-Camp Ford was the most humane of the war camps in the Civil War. The prisoner fatality rate was only 7%.
The Cleanest Jobs Are The Messiest
I sighed a frosty exhale. Another clean job. It seemed I would never leave this place. Men fought each other, and shot each other with weapons meant to kill each other, then captured the survivors and sent them here. This place...this place was worse than the front. Here, the men had no hope. Why did these people set up the camps? Quite frankly, I think these camps are stupid. But what does my opinion matter? The insurgents, the Confederates, needed them, I guess. These prisoners had a grim realization, it seemed. No pun intended, of course. They knew they had a very high chance of dying in this place, this Camp Groce. I would say I wish I could stop it, but this is how I live. I live on their deaths. These jobs may be clean, but they have the bloodiest histories.
POW Camps and Their Punch On History
~The POW camps held the prisoners captured by the Confederates. These prisoners could be used for bargaining.
Why was the mortality rate in Camp Ford considered strikingly low?
~Prisoner of War camps are deadly places. The wardens of these camps aren't concerned with what goes on within the fences as long as the guards are alive and no one escapes.
Should the operators of the POW camps have been tried for crimes against humanity?
~The nation was swept by war. These acts were performed in times of crisis. Were they wrong? The ethics are often controversial in any war. I myself think they should have been tried to some degree for the torture they omissionately allowed to be executed. What do you think?