Elmira Prison Camp

During the Civil War over 150 prison camps were established throughout the North and South. Between 350,000 and 400,000 men from both sides were held as prisoners-of-war, of whom roughly 56,000 died. Historians have suggested that incompetence was the main cause. For both the Union and Confederacy, the care and feeding of prisoners were last on the list of priorities. The Union could have done a better job but did not, while the Confederacy had trouble providing for its own soldiers. About twenty prison camps earned bad reputations. For Union soldiers the worst was Andersonville in Georgia; for Confederate soldiers it was Elmira.

Prison Camp Photos

Activities

On July 6, 1864 the first 400 Confederate prisoners-of-war arrived in Elmira. By August 18 the population was 9,262. From the beginning, the camp was ill-prepared and undersupplied. Outbreaks of measles, scurvy, and waterborne diseases overwhelmed the short-staffed hospital. The prison camp death toll jumped from 11 in July to 115 by the end of August. Winter came early with heavy snow on October 6. More than half the soldiers were housed in tents and shortages of food, warm clothing, and blankets made prisoners even more likely to fall ill.

By New Year’s Day all prisoners were in barracks, but the harsh winter, poor sanitation, shortages of food and supplies, and a smallpox outbreak pushed prisoner deaths to a peak of 491 in March. The spring thaw came with record flooding. On March 15, prisoners retreated to the barracks’ top bunks as waters rose, washing away the 2,700 feet of stockade wall.

In many ways, the prison camp was like its own city with a library, market, and hospital. The economy ran on tobacco and barter. Prisoners worked for the camp administration as carpenters, clerks, hospital attendants, waiters, and cooks. Others ran their own businesses as barbers, tailors, hunters, teachers, or makers of handmade jewelry. Still, it was a poor city where food and clothes were scarce and nearly everyone had lice. Many prisoners suffered from diseases like dysentery, smallpox, and scurvy.

Anticipating some deaths among the prisoners at the newly opened camp, the military agreed in July 1864 to lease a half-acre of land at Woodlawn, Elmira’s municipal cemetery. John W. Jones, the cemetery’s sexton, was hired to bury the dead. Under his original agreement, Jones was to be paid $40 a month, but as the death toll rose, he renegotiated his payment to $2.50 per burial. By January of 1865, so many had died at the prison camp that the military was forced to lease an additional half-acre from the cemetery. In the end, Jones buried 2,973 Confederate prisoners at Woodlawn. In 1877 the portion of Woodlawn where the prisoners are buried became Woodlawn National Cemetery.

Since only civilians with official business were allowed into the prison camp, public opinion was that nothing was wrong within the camp. This view was re-enforced by newspaper articles and reports from camp officials. Contracts for providing supplies to the camp were given to locals while others found employment as clerks, lawyers, and general laborers. Local groups and individuals donated clothing, reading materials for the camp library, and supplies to the camp school. The camp even turned into an attraction with people gathering daily around the main gates hoping to get a glimpse inside. For ten to fifteen cents, people could view the interior of the camp from two observation decks. Located directly across from the camp on Water Street, the observation decks were only opened for a few weeks before the military closed them.

In between the observation decks, refreshment stands sold ginger cakes, lemonade, peanuts, and souvenir cards. Not allowed inside the camp, the public had to be content with buying trade cards of the prison camp and jewelry made by the prisoners.