Waiting for the death camp trains!

In the beginning of these horrors the Confederate government renewed the efforts for exchange of prisoners. These efforts fell on deaf ears, Lincoln would sacrifice his own to handicap the South!....PoP

The Chief Surgeon of camp Elmira was overheard to boast, before resigning toavoid court martial, he had killed more rebels than any Union soldier. Bottom line & there was 3,866 more Confederate soldiers who died in Union prisons than Union soldiers in Confederate prisons... Gore Vidal

The worst prison camp during the War For Southern Independence was NOT Andersonville but Rock Island, Illinois. This Union camp had an estimated 72% death rate as compared to Andersonville's 27% !! The South also suffered more deaths in union prisons than union in Southern prisons. The Confederate prisoner's were starved and deprived of the essentials to survive the harsh winters of the north. This done by a nation that had ample means to provide for the prisoners. The South could not even provide for it's own troops!

The first three years of war, exchange of prisoners was common practice. Early 1864, Lincoln stopped this practice"Grant's advice" This new policy was crafted to keep C.S. exchanges from returning to their units. The South had no replacements to call on. The North, on the other hand had a million troops around Washington that had never seen the elephant!...Lincoln had not a care for his soldiers in Southern prisons, he was pleased it a burden for The Confederates!

It has been said that history is created by those who write it rather than those who live it. This is hyperbole, of course, but each historian does indeed write from a particular perspective. So Americans, depending on what schools they attend and which historians they rely on, may have differing views of the same event.

Also, many Americans rely on public libraries for their knowledge of history. But, contrary to what many think, the purpose of public libraries is not to present balanced views but to make available to their patrons the most sought after books. Public libraries, unlike libraries affiliated with universities, stock their shelves with best sellers or books receiving favorable reviews in mass market journals.

Quite a few people derive their knowledge of history from fictional accounts; novels, plays, films, and TV. This is especially true of depictions of the War Between the States. This unparalleled event in our history has continued to inspire fictional works for 140 years....more on this HERE.

"Liberty cannot be preserved without a general knowledge among the people... Be not intimidated, therefore, by any terrors, from publishing with the utmost freedom...nor suffer yourselves to be wheedled out of your liberty by any pretenses of politeness, delicacy, or decency. These, as they are often used, are but three different names for hypocrisy, chicanery, and cowardice." -- John Adams

The True Story of Andersonville Prison
By James Madison Page, M.J. Haley Price: $24.95
Order HERE

During the Civil (sic)War, James Madison Page was a prisoner in different places in the South. Seven months of that time was spent at Andersonville. While there he became well acquainted with Major Wirz, or Captain Wirz, as he then ranked.

Page takes the stand that Captain Wirz was unjustly held responsible for the hardship and mortality of Andersonville. It was his belief that the Federal authorities must share the blame for these things with the Confederate, since they well knew the inability of the Confederates to meet the reasonable wants of their prisoners of war, as they lacked a supply for their own needs, and since the Federal authorities failed to exercise a humane policy in the exchange of those captured in battle. This reprint edition is a facsimile of the original “As Published in 1908”

“ The attempt by an ex-prisoner who was very accommodating toward Confederate captors to rebut other accounts of Wirz. Vehement, detailed, sometimes convincing.” Nevins, Allen. "Civil (sic)War Books: A Critical Bibliography. Vol. 1. Baton Rouge: LSU Press 1970. Pg.199

"Rebel prisoners in our hands are to be subjected to a treatment finding its parallels only in the conduct of savage tribes and resulting in the death of multitudes by the slow but designed process of starvation and by mortal diseases occasioned by insufficient and unhealthy food and wanton exposure of their persons to the inclemency of the weather."

-- Official U.S. Policy on Confederate Prisoners of War (Preamble to the H.R. 97, passed by both Houses of Congress)

In 1866, Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton reported that according to the Commissary General of Prisoners, over 26,000 Confederate POWs died in prisons and hospitals.

Just a few of the death camps!!
Camp Douglas * Rock Island
Camp Chase * Point Lookout
Camp Chase * Elmira
Fort Delaware *Alton Prison
Camp Randall * Camp Morton