Libby Prison
The Libby Prison was a prison of the Confederation for prisoners of war during the Civil War .
history
The three-story brick building stood on the banks of the James River in Richmond and previously served as a warehouse for Libby & Sons . Between 1862 and 1865 officers of the Union Army of the Northern States were housed here. The poor conditions in the prison were notorious. The worst was between May 1863, when the exchange of prisoners ceased, and May 1864. The 1000 inmates suffered from poor food, a lack of medical care and a lack of space. The conditions for NCOs and men in other POW camps were, however, even worse.
On February 9, 1864, 109 prisoners escaped through a tunnel in a prison breakout. When acts of war reached Richmond in March, the Confederates placed powder in the basement and threatened to blow it up in case they attempted to escape. This fact was used by the northern states for propaganda purposes. After the fall of Richmond, Confederate prisoners were housed in the building.
In 1889 the building was demolished and rebuilt as a war museum in Chicago . However, the visitors stayed away and so the building was finally demolished.
Known inmates
- Emil Frey
- August Willich
- Luigi Palma di Cesnola
- Hugh Judson Kilpatrick
- William H. Upham
- Thomas Clement Fletcher
- John Fulton Reynolds
- Francis Amasa Walker
Reception in art
John Jakes describes the conditions in Libby Prison in his novel Love and War . Accordingly, it also plays a role in its film adaptation, the TV film epic Torches in the Storm .
literature
- David C. Roller, Robert W. Twyman (Eds.): The Encyclopedia of Southern History. Louisiana State University Press, Baton Rouge LA et al. 1979, ISBN 0-8071-0575-9 .
Web links
- The history of Libby Prison (English)