Elmira Prison Camp, NY: The long barracks were originally estimated to be capable of holding up to 4,000 prisoners. More than 9,500 prisoners were confined there by late 1864. [Courtesy of Library of Congress.]

"Elmira was nearer Hades than I thought any place could be," declared G. T. Taylor, Company C, 1st Alabama Battalion of Heavy Artillery. . . .

The site--one mile west of Elmira in west central New York, about six miles north of the Pennsylvania border -- was originally established in 1861 as a rendezvous and training camp for new recruits....

What later became Elmira Prison was originally known as Post Barracks, one of four recruit camps around Elmira, and known as Camp No. 3 to the Federal authorities. Of the four camps situated in different parts of the town, as well as other camps at Albany, Utica, Rochester, and Buffalo considered for prison use back in 1862, the one later utilized was the one described as the worst of all.

"[It is on] a plot of ground quite level, not easily drained and considerably lower than the surrounding country," reported Captain Henry Lazelle. "In consequence ... [it] becomes at wet seasons quite soft and muddy... The water from the wells on the grounds and from the junction canal south of it is unfit for use and must be hauled." The other posts originally considered were on higher ground with better water supplies. Still, due to the severe overcrowding of their existing prisons and the constant accumulation of additional POWs, authorities proceeded to convert Camp No. 3 in May 1864 .

"You will receive instructions from the Adjutant-General," Colonel Hoffman advised Lieutenant Colonel Seth Eastman, commander of the "Draft Rendezvous camp" at Elmira, "to set apart the barracks on the Chemung River."

Eastman answered, "There are two sets of barracks at this post, situated about two miles apart. They are designated as Nos. I and 3. The latter is on the Chemung River... These barracks were built to comfortably accommodate 3,000 troops without crowding. The bunks are double. The buildings are in excellent condition and well ventilated. Four thousand prisoners of war could be quartered in them, and there is plenty of ground room in which tents could be pitched to accommodate 1,000 more....."'

"Barracks No. 3 has been placed in complete condition for the accommodation of 10,000 prisoners," Quartermaster General Meigs declared when he notified the office of the assistant quartermaster nearly five weeks later, ignoring Eastman's recommendation that no more than five thousand could be accommodated. "Eight acres of land have been inclosed with a substantial board fence, twelve feet high, with sentry boxes and elevated platforms have been constructed…."

Nothing was done to increase the capacity of the thirty-five barracks that sat in compound No. 3.... the one-story wood structures measured sixteen by one hundred feet and accommodated ninety-five to one hundred troops comfortably in each. The ceilings were just high enough to allow two rows of crudely built double bunks, forty-five to fifty in each building. Short of expanding each building or constructing more, neither of which was attempted, funded, or authorized by the Federal government, the maximum capacity remained at 4,000 with an additional 1,000 to be housed in tents. Meanwhile, Hoffman and Meigs continued to refer to a capacity of 8,000 to 10,000….

Throughout the following days, POWs continued to arrive from all directions. By the end of the month [July], 4,424 were confined there, two had managed to escape, and eleven had died. "You are authorized to lease a half-acre lot in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira as a burying ground for deceased prisoners of war," Hoffman advised Colonel Eastman at the end of the month, "and you are also authorized to employ a laborer at $40 per month to dig the graves."

Eastman obtained the services of the Woodlawn Cemetery sexton, John W. Jones, a former slave from Leesburg, Virginia, who lived near the prison, to take charge of the Confederate burials. Jones would go on to do a meticulous job and keep accurate death records throughout the existence of the prison. By the end of August, there were more than 9,600 POWs confined at Elmira. The initial arrivals had filled the barracks and A-tents were now in use…

By August 7, the tent supply was exhausted. Tents arriving the following week still were insufficient. Many men, poorly clad, with some wearing nothing but dirty underwear and having no blanket, found themselves sleeping out in the open air with no shelter whatsoever. By the end of August there were 115 more deaths. In September, another 385 perished.

A majority of the deaths during this period were from diarrhea and dysentery. Exposure was, no doubt, a contributing factor, and scurvy also broke out in epidemic proportions during the month. By September 11, there were 1,870 reported cases. Before long, Elmira led all the northern prisons in its death rate--ten per day.

Colonel Eastman soon complained to Washington authorities that the camp was overcrowded and requested them to stop sending prisoners. Besides the housing problems, he pointed out, it required three hours to feed nearly 10,000 POWs in shifts of 1,800 at a time. "[If they can get through their breakfast by 11 AM and their dinner by 6 PM," Colonel Hoffman curtly reported, "[then] nothing more is necessary."

Eastman also complained that the pond inside the camp had become a cesspool, that it was causing illness, and that something had to be done to remedy the situation immediately. "The drainage of the camp is into this pond or pool of standing water," agreed Post Surgeon E. F. Sanger during his inspection, "and one large sink used by the prisoners stands directly over the pond which receives its fecal matter hourly... Seven thousand men will pass 2,600 gallons of urine daily, which is highly loaded with nitrogenous material. A portion is absorbed by the earth, still a large amount decomposes on the top of the earth or runs into the pond to purify."

In spite of Eastman's and Sanger's concerns, they received the full impact of responsibility for the unsanitary, chaotic, and wretched conditions of the camp… Colonel Benjamin E Tracy took over as prison commandant, with his regiment, the 127th U.S. Colored Troops, taking over guard duty. In September, construction of additional hospital wards and barracks began.. . . .At the end of November, a total of 483 POWs had died in the 61-day period. No doubt, the sexton at Woodlawn found himself overworked and underpaid. At the rate the prisoners were dying, he was barely averaging more than sixteen cents per burial for all his work and record keeping.

The medical staff went on to emphasize the problems with the lagoon at the camp.... "This pond received the contents of the sinks and garbage of the camp until it became so offensive that vaults were dug on the banks of the pond for sinks and the whole left a festering mass of corruption, impregnating the entire atmosphere of the camp with its pestilential odors, night and day... The pond remains green with putrescence, filling the air with its messengers of disease and death, the vaults give out their sickly odors, and the hospitals are crowded with victims for the grave."

One benefit Foster's Pond provided in its deplorable, wretched, condition, however, was that it became a haven for an alternative food source… Rats quickly became part of the prison's complex bartering system. One rat could be traded for five chaws of tobacco, one haircut, or a number of other items…

By December, their miserable existence and fight for survival intensified. The frigid cold weather swept in and, with it, smallpox arrived from Governors Island. Within weeks, smallpox became epidemic, which led to a smallpox camp established away from the prison at nearby South Creek… As winter pounded the area, the southern POWs found this part of New York state intolerable. . . .

Each barracks had one stove to serve two hundred or more occupants. "Around each stove was a chalk mark, five feet from the stove, marking the distance we should keep, so that all could be warm," explained one prisoner."

It wasn't unusual to see Elmira's prisoners standing ankle-deep in snow for roll calls during this time of year. . . . The temperature dropped to eighteen degrees below zero on at least two different occasions.

It was no wonder then, that in addition to smallpox, pneumonia struck down Elmira's POWs as well. From December 1864, through March 1865, 1,471 prisoners of war succumbed to the ravages of the camp. Nearly 500 died in the month of March, alone, averaging more than 15 per day.

It was also in March that the inevitable finally happened. With the spring thaw, and the heavy runoff of melted snow, the Chemung River nearby began to run fast and furious. . . . The river continued to rise until the entire camp, except about an acre, was flooded ...

As early as July 1864, a number of Elmira citizens had erected an observation tower outside the compound. For the nominal fee of fifteen cents each, spectators were allowed to climb up to the platform to observe the POWs in their daily activities…. While the towers might have brought profit to some prison officials, they seem to have inspired humanitarian efforts from the town's citizens. As at Fort Delaware, however, such efforts were often hampered by the Federal authorities....