Prisoners+of+War

=**Prisoners of the Civil War** =

How were prisoners of war treated? What were their living conditions like? Prisoners of War

The history of the American Civil War is filled with examples of hardship and pain, but nowhere were conditions harsher than in the prisoners-of-war camps. Civil War prison camps became incubators of disease, centers of malnutrition or outright starvation. In the summer of 1862 the North and South agreed to a formal parole arrangement for prisoners of war. In the agreement, prisoners were traded on a one-for-one basis. “Leftover” soldiers were paroled; they were released with the understanding that they would not take up arms again until they were figured into the mathematics of some future prisoner exchange. Despite its various imperfections, this state of affairs kept the prisoners-of-war population low in both the North and the South. When the parole system fell apart, the number of prisoners in both armies accelerated rapidly. Captured soldiers typically spent their first hours of captivity close together in crowded holding pens. After officers recorded their names, ranks, and unit affiliation, provost marshals sent captured prisoners off to various prison facilities. Some fortunate prisoners were delivered to the gates of their prisons by train or boat, but most of them had to endure long marches on foot to reach their destination. By the end of the war, almost all the prisoners, especially Union prisoners of the Confederate military had traveled by foot to their prison.

Though all prisoners of war were abused and harassed it was still the African American soldiers that were treated the worse. When the North asked the freed African Americans, thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation, to take a part in the Union army they did it for their freedom. They knew if the Confederacy were to win, the now freed slaves to the rebel states, were to lose the freedom they had. The South was appalled at the North for trying to use their own slaves against them. The Confederates replied to the news by announcing they would execute white officers who led black soldiers, and would turn the troops over to states to be treated as rebellious slaves. The exchanging of prisoners started falling apart due to this. Eventually the South just started taking them to the prison camps like the rest of the prisoners, or killing them before capturing them. Most African American soldiers died together in battle, knowing their consequences would be much worse than the other white soldiers. The Union told the Confederacy that all their soldiers should be treated the same.

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Malnutrition and hunger were typical of many of the Civil War prison camps. Tales of malnutrition or starvation in enemy prison camps prompted some reductions in food rations. Shelters, blankets, stoves, and other things for protection from the elements were in short supply at many of the prison camps. This was especially a problem in the North. In the North many Rebel prisoners endured long, cold winters in old, ripped tents, and tattered clothing. Sanitary conditions were very poor in many prison camps in both the North and South. Many captives were forced to drink, bathe, and dispose of human waste in the same areas, sometimes using the same water source. Also the medical care at the prison camps ranged from poor to barbaric. All of these things- hunger, crowded and unsanitary conditions, exposure to harmful elements, vulnerability to disease and depression combined made the prison camps horrible places. The is why prison camps were known as "Hell on Earth."

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Works Cited "Civil War Prisoners of War." //ABCCIO//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2010. "Prisoner Exchanges: American Civil War." //ABC-CLIO//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2010. "Prisoners of War: American Civil War ." //ABC-CLIO//. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.

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