The prison camps are filled to capacity ... what could be done? Both Union and Confederates were forced into using an exchange program. A prisoner had to be exchanged within ten days after his capture - if no exchange was made, the prisoner was supposed to be released after he signed a pledge that he would never again take up arms against his captors until he could be formally exchanged. The prison camp officials had to trust the prisoner because many times it took months before a prisoner could be legally exchanged. While waiting for the exchange, the prisoners were supposed to be able to return home to their family or to their unit. Looked good on paper! This shortly became a problem when the soldier did not return as promised. Some of the prisoners were then sent "out west" to fight Indians. An agreement was finally reached in July of 1862 between Gen. John A. Dix and Confederate General Daniel H. Hill. It was very complex and cost the governments much money. Soldiers would often allow themselves to be captured in the hope that they would be sent home. The Confederates were forced some times to refuse parole or exchange for great periods of time. At the capture of Vicksburg, Miss. Union Gen. Ulysses S. Grant paroled about 31,600 Confederate defenders of the city at one time. Two years later, at Appomattox, he paroled the 28,231 members of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia-and they were never exchanged. The basis of exchange was as follows: 1 general = 46 privates 1 major general = 40 privates 1 brigadier general = 20 privates 1 colonel = 15 privates 1 lieutenant colonel = 10 privates 1 major = 8 privates 1 captain = 6 privates 1 lieutenant = 4 privates 1 noncommissioned officer = 2 privates The Union and Confederacy occasionally held prisoners of war as hostages sentenced to death in retaliation for some action taken by the other side. This happened when, at the beginning of the war, the Confederates, including Jefferson Davis and Savannah were captured, and the United States sentenced the officers and crew to be executed for piracy. The Confederacy struck back in retaliation selecting the same number of Union prisoners, all high ranking officers from Castle Pinckney prison in Charleston Harbor, and placed them in confinement, sentenced to death. When two Rebel officers in Kentucky were executed by federal forces for spying, the Confederate government chose two Union officers from Libby Prison and sentenced them to the same fate. The United States promptly notified Richmond that it held Confederate General Robert E. Lee's son, General W.H.F."Rooney" Lee, prisoner and would hang him if the sentence against the Libby prisoners was carried out. Union officials stopped the program in 1864 which resulted in overcrowding and the most miserable conditions for prisoners of war. Disease, hunger, and overexposure killed many prisoners. About 194,000 Union soldiers were held prisoner of whom 22,576 died; about 214,000 Confederates were held in Northern prisons and 26,436 died. They were buried where they died, far from their homes and family. In Sumter County, Ga., Andersonville, on some days more than 100 men were buried in trenches there. Andersonville was established as a national cemetery in 1865, and today white stone markers in painfully long rows mark the almost 13,000 graves of prisoners who died there, joined by almost 3,000 newer graves of veterans. Elmira Prison in New York was a death sentence for 2,917 Confederates. An ex-slave was paid to bury the dead prisoners in a 2.5 acre cemetery. In 1877 it was renamed "Woodlawn Cemetery." Camp Chase's cemetery, "The City of the Dead," holds the remains of 2,260 Confederate soldiers. (c) Copyright 8 June 2000, Sandra K. Gorin, all rights reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements,Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 - E-fax (707)222-1210 - e-mail: sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Member: Glasgow-Barren Co Chamber of Commerce Publishing: http://members.delphi.com/gorin1/index.html Barren Co: http://www.rootsweb.com/~kybarren/ TIPS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Tips KYBIOS: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ky/Bios ARCHIVES: http://searches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl