----- Original Message ----- From: "Margie Daniels" <margie@majorinternet.net> To: <GACRAWFO-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, February 10, 2001 7:56 PM Subject: [GACRAWFO] Point Look Out > I am sending along a series of information I am compiling while transcribing > the Confederate Veteran magazine. > > Many do not look at the POW records. I was one of those. My > GGreatgrandfather dropped from site and I could not find him. Only by > making a trip to Washington DC did I finally find him. He was listed among > the dead at "Hellmira" NY > > If you want more about Point Look out this is an excellent site. > > http://www.clements.umich.edu/Webguides/Schoff/NP/Point.html > > > Point Lookout, Md., Prison Camp > Records, 1863 January 2-1864 June > 1.5 lin. feet > > Hints for web users > > > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > ---- > > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- > ---- > > > > Background note: > > > A prison camp for Confederate prisoners of war was built at Point Lookout, > Md., on the tip of the peninsula where the Potomac River joins Chesapeake > Bay. In the two years during which the camp was in operation, August, 1863, > to June, 1865, Point Lookout overflowed with inmates, surpassing its > intended capacity of 10,000 to a population numbering between 12,500 and > 20,000. In all, over 50,000 men, both military and civilian, were held > prisoner there. > G.W. Jones, a private of Co. H, 24th Virginia Cavalry, described his ominous > entrance into the prison amidst "a pile of coffins for dead rebels," hearing > the lid close shut on his own soon thereafter when he learned that the > system of prisoner exchanges had been suspended for the duration of the war. > Jones described the camp as laid out into a series of streets and trenches, > intended to aid in drainage, and surrounded by a fourteen foot parapet wall. > Prisoners, who lived sixteen or more to a tent, were subjected to habitually > short rations and limited fire wood in winter, and when the coffee ration > was suspended for federal prisoners at Andersonville, the Point Lookout > prisoner lost theirs as well. > > The worst the prisoners suffered, however, may have been inflicted by the > physical conditions. The flat topography, sandy soil, and an elevation > barely above high tide led to poor drainage, and the area was subjected to > every imaginable extreme of weather, from blazing heat to bone-chilling > cold. Polluted water exacerbated the problems of inadequate food, clothing, > fuel, housing, and medical care, and as a result, approximately 4,000 > prisoners died there over 22 months. > > > > > > > > Scope and contents: > > > The Point Lookout Prison Camp Records include official correspondence, > receipts and other documents relating to Confederate prisoners of war held > at the Point Lookout Military Prison, Md., between the summer, 1863, and > summer, 1864. The collection is comprised of 43 official letters pertaining > largely to the disposition of prisoners; 124 letters written by prisoners of > war, mostly requests to take the loyalty oath in order to be released into > the federal military or to be assigned duty as a non-combatant; and > approximately 700 letters written by private individuals on behalf of > prisoners, mostly seeking information on prisoners' well-being, requests > that goods or money be forwarded, or relaying other information. > Among the prisoners' correspondence are several letters discussing family > hardships, bewilderment at arrest (for civilian prisoners), or simple > expressions of exhaustion and a desire to find a way out of the war. The > sample, of course, is biased, in that the letters in the Point Lookout > Collection were all addressed to federal authorities -- mostly commandant, > John N. Patterson. While some prisoners expressed an abiding loyalty to the > southern cause, others complained of having been drafted into the service > against their will and principles, or claimed to have been so wrapped up in > the emotions of the moment that they did not carefully consider their > actions when enlisting. In a few cases, soldiers appeared to be genuinely > disillusioned with the Confederacy. Indeed, several of those who requested > the loyalty oath can later be found serving with federal forces. The > prisoners' letters and letters from camp officials provide only very brief > glimpses into the conditions of prison life, with very sporadic mention made > of illness or crimes committed in camp. > > Letters from third parties display a range of attitudes that are broadly > similar to those expressed by the prisoners, with an understandable, rather > heavier, emphasis on family hardship. Included in this series are numerous > letters written by the wives, sisters or mothers of prisoners, but also some > from women who may be inferred to have been members of relief organizations > for Confederate soldiers. > > The largest series of materials in the collection consists of approximately > 2,200 receipts and sutlers' accounts for goods sold to prisoners. > > The collection is arranged in several series, with all but the Miscellaneous > Materials at the end indexed for prisoners' names: > > > > > ==== GACRAWFO Mailing List ==== > I am a Southern Woman with revolutionary blood in my veins. Freedom of speech and of thought are my birthright. Rose O'Neal Greenhow Heroine of the Confederacy > >