Prison Life in the South in the Civil War

By A.O. Abbott

Richmond, Macon, Savannah, Charleston, Columbia, Charlotte, Raleigh, Goldsborough, and Andersonville--all places of unspeakable suffering during the American Civil War. These were sites of Confederate prisons where Union soldiers were held in squalor, disease, and starvation.A.O. Abbott brought together a collection of these accounts shortly after the close of the war. The bitterness and pain in these stories still remained vivid to the survivors. Here they provide the details of what the war did to some men. One writes:"These cruelties were not the result of accident, but of a deliberate purpose. By this we do not mean that the Southern people were committed to these acts. In many cases their humanity compelled them, though in opposition to the authorities, to attempt the alleviation of the sufferings which they witnessed."Many of these men kept prison diaries that they drew from in this book. They recorded what they ate, what they thought, what they talked about, escape attempts, receiving mail, and exchanging money.The book also includes the "Thrilling Adventures of Lieutenant Francis Murphy, Company 107th Regiment New York Volunteers, who escaped from Prison at Columbia."At the end, Abbott writes: "To some the burden was too much, and they have never recovered from its baneful effects. Others have nearly recovered, but the scars remain."Every memoir of the American Civil War provides us with another view of the catastrophe that changed the country forever.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1519046251
• ISBN13: 9781519046253
• Release Date: November 2016
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 214 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"