Civil War Prison Camps

Death Tolls

Union vs Confederate

• Confederate management was worse
• Union winters were worse 
• Very similar living conditions

CAMP SUMTER- CONFEDERATE

• Andersonville, Georgia
• +45,000 Union prisoners held there
• +13,000 prisoners died
• 1864-1865

SALISBURY, NORTH CAROLINA- CONFEDERATE

• Union soldiers, army deserters, and political prisoners
• Designed to hold +2500 persons
• +10,000 people held there
• Burned down in April 1865
• Now a historic cemetery

ALTON, IL- UNION

• Built February 1862
• Actual prion before war
• +11,000 confederates held there
• No longer standing

ELMIRA PRISON, NY- UNION

• Over 12,000 confederates held there
• Death rate of 24.3%
• Used one pond for latrine and garbage dump
• Major killers: smallpox epidemic and flooding
• Nicknamed HELLmira Camp

LINCOLN "EYE FOR AN EYE"

• Established early in the war
• Broke down in 1863
• Prison camp populations soared after it broke down

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