Download or read book Hell on Belle Isle Diary of a Civil War POW Revised Edition written by Donald L. Allison and published by Faded Banner Publications. This book was released on 2022-04-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The soul of a brave and courageous man who only wanted to serve his country and return home to his fiancee is forever illuminated." That's how one reviewer described the poignant story of an intelligent and perceptive Union soldier who endured the horrors of the Civil War prison on Belle Isle in Richmond, as detailed by award-winning author and journalist Don Allison. "It is three months since I was captured," Union cavalryman J. Osborn Coburn wrote from Richmond's Belle Isle prison in January 1863. "Then I expected that all enlisted men would be paroled and exchanged and returned to our lines. We were full of health, heart, hope and spirits. We were fleshy, having known but little of hunger. We were confident in our ability to endure almost anything. Now we are down, clear down, starved out. Our flesh as well as hope and spirits are all broken or nearly so. We get peevish and irritable, cross, dirty and careless. Eat like beasts, our faces and hands begrimed with dirt and pine smoke and but little inclination to wash them or strength if we had." Coburn's diary is perhaps the closest a reader can come to experiencing the horrors of Civil War prison life. His journal is the focus of a revised edition of a classic book from Faded Banner Publications, "Hell on Belle Isle: Diary of a Civil War POW Revised Edition." An uncommonlygifted writer, Coburn was an attorney before joining the Sixth Michigan Cavalry in the summer of 1862. He turned his pen to describing life as cavalryman in George Armstrong Custer's famed Michigan Cavalry Brigade, and later as a POW in Richmond in late 1863 and early 1864. Editing and narrating "Hell on Belle Isle" is newspaper editor Don Allison, whose two decades of journalistic work have attracted honors from both the UPI and AP wire services. In preparing "Hell on Belle Isle" Allison has drawn on a lifelong interest and study of the Civil War. His ancestors fought on both sides during the conflict. Belle Isle is not as well known as the infamous Andersonville prison in Georgia, but Belle Isle rivaled Andersonville in terms of the squalid conditions of neglect and starvation endured by its prisoners. It was actually a fluke that Allison learned Coburn's journal existed. A friend working with him on a history of the 38th Ohio Infantry copied a 38th Ohio reference from a newspaper microfilm, and by chance a brief story about the diary appeared on the photocopy. As Allison explains,"I was able to obtain a transcription - the original diary was lost in a house fire about 25 years ago - and I knew Coburn's story needed to be told. I was definitely certain I had to do the book after finding Coburn's photograph in a Michigan antique shop, a store I stopped at on an unexplained whim." Life on Bell Isle was a terrible hardship. Leaky, worn-out tents were provided for the men, but overcrowding often left men with no shelter at all. Rain and cold brought terrible suffering, as did illness, homesickness and an almost continual hunger. "A little rain and very raw cold day," Coburn wrote in November 1863. "No wood and nothing for supper but the usual two ounces of meat. It does almost seem as if this infernal Confederate government desires the reduction of our numbers and was accomplishing it in this slow and barbarous manner of murdering us. I know they are hard pressed by our armies on all sides and their means cut very close, but they might certainly furnish us with wood to warm us and our rations..." On Feb. 4, as he neared the end of his ordeal, Coburn wrote that "Hereafter I shall not try to keep a daily record of events as this book is nearly full and I don't know how to keep another. Suffice it to say here that general prospects of our release do not increase except as time passing brings us nearer to an end _ perhaps our own in time."
Download or read book Hell on Belle Isle written by Jacob Osborn Coburn and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Perfect Picture of Hell written by Ted Genoways and published by University of Iowa Press. This book was released on 1998-04 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the shooting of an unarmed prisoner at Montgomery, Alabama, to a successful escape from Belle Isle, from the swelling floodwaters overtaking Cahaba Prison to the inferno that finally engulfed Andersonville, A Perfect Picture of Hell is a collection of harrowing narratives by soldiers from the 12th Iowa Infantry who survived imprisonment in the South during the Civil War. Editors Ted Genoways and Hugh Genoways have collected the soldiers' startling accounts from diaries, letters, speeches, newspaper articles, and remembrances. Arranged chronologically, the eyewitness descriptions of the battles of Shiloh, Corinth, Jackson, and Tupelo, together with accompanying accounts of nearly every famous Confederate prison, create a shared vision
Download or read book The Journal of a Civil War Surgeon written by Jonah Franklin Dyer and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2003-01-01 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: J. Franklin Dyer?s journal offers a rare perspective on three years of the Civil War as seen through the eyes of a surgeon at the front. The journal, taken from letters written to his wife, Maria, describes in lengthy and colorful detail the daily life of a doctor who began as a regimental surgeon in the Nineteenth Massachusetts Volunteers and was promoted to acting medical director of the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac. ø This firsthand account traces Dyer?s attempts to manage his Gloucester household even as the Second Corps fought on the Peninsula, at Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg, and from the Wilderness to Petersburg. Over time his letters to his wife become fraught with the tension of a man losing his early martial ardor as he witnesses the ghastly procession of suffering and death. ø Both a talented surgeon and a careful administrator, Dyer nevertheless declined opportunities to work at hospitals in the rear in order to stay near his old regiment and the fighting. He confronted the aftermath of battle?thousands of wounded and dying men?with a small staff and simple instruments. He and his fellow surgeons saved lives as best they could?often at the cost of amputated limbs?then dropped to the ground from exhaustion and slept in blood-drenched uniforms until the cries of the wounded woke them and induced them back to work. Dyer also provides a glimpse of the most devastating opponent the armies faced: disease. He and his medical colleagues fought cholera, typhus, dysentery, measles, and, despite official denials in Washington , a scurvy outbreak that weakened Federal units during the Peninsula campaign.
Download or read book John Ransom s Andersonville Diary written by John L. Ransom and published by Berkley. This book was released on 1994 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Ransom was a 20-year-old Union soldier when he became a prisoner of war in 1863. In his unforgettable diary, Ransom reveals the true story of his day-to-day struggle in the worst of Confederate prison camps--where hundreds of prisoners died daily. Ransom's story of survival is, according to Publishers Weekly, a great adventure . . . observant, eloquent, and moving.
Download or read book The 22nd Michigan Infantry and the Road to Chickamauga written by John Cohassey and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2019-01-14 with total page 201 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Called upon to take a hill at the 1863 Battle of Chickamauga, the untested 22nd Michigan Infantry helped to save General George H. Thomas' right flank. Formed in 1862, the regiment witnessed slavery and encountered runaways in the border state of Kentucky, faced near starvation during the siege of Chattanooga and marched to Atlanta as General Thomas' provost guard. This history explores the 22nd's day-to-day experiences in Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. The author describes the challenges faced by volunteer farm boys, shopkeepers, school teachers and lawyers as they faced death, disease and starvation on battlefields and in Confederate prisons.
Download or read book Yankees in the Hill City written by Clifton W. Potter, Jr. and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-09-06 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With three railroads and a canal passing through the city, Lynchburg, Virginia, was a major hospital center during the Civil War, far from the remote battlefields. A transit camp where Union soldiers remained before being paroled or transferred to another prison opened in June 1862 at the Fair Ground, just outside the city limits. Upon arrival, the sick and wounded were assigned to one of the 32 hospitals regardless of the uniform they wore. Union POWs who died were buried in the City Cemetery by the local funeral service, which also carefully recorded their personal data. Local ministers daily performed burial services for all soldiers, regardless of their race or the color of their uniforms, and all their expenses were paid by the Confederate government. This book presents the complete history of this Union POW camp in Lynchburg: the context of its founding, its operations, and its fate after the war. Two appendices present burial records for the POWs and Lynchburg Campaign casualties.
Download or read book Andersonville Diary Escape and List of the Dead written by John L. Ransom and published by . This book was released on 1883 with total page 396 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book One of Custer s Wolverines written by James Harvey Kidd and published by Kent State University Press. This book was released on 2000 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Primarily known for his postwar exploits, most famously for his 1876 defeat at Little Big Horn, George Armstrong Custer led a formidable cavalry that became known as Custer's Wolverines. This volume presents the Civil War letters of one of those Wolverines, James H. Kidd.
Download or read book Haunted by Atrocity written by Benjamin G. Cloyd and published by LSU Press. This book was released on 2010-05-24 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Benjamin G. Cloyd deftly analyzes how Americans have remembered the military prisons of the Civil War from the war itself to the present, making a strong case for the continued importance of the great conflict in contemporary America. The first study of Civil War memory to focus exclusively on the military prison camps, Haunted by Atrocity offers a cautionary tale of how Americans, for generations, have unconsciously constructed their recollections of painful events in ways that protect cherished ideals of myth, meaning, identity, and, ultimately, the deeply rooted faith in American exceptionalism.
Download or read book Captives in Blue written by Roger Pickenpaugh and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2013-02-04 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Captives in Blue, a study of Union prisoners in Confederate prisons, is a companion to Roger Pickenpaugh's earlier groundbreaking book Captives in Gray: The Civil War Prisons of the Union, rounding out his examination of Civil War prisoner of war facilities. In June of 1861, only a few weeks after the first shots at Fort Sumter ignited the Civil War, Union prisoners of war began to arrive in Southern prisons. One hundred and fifty years later Civil War prisons and the way prisoners of war were treated remain contentious topics. Partisans of each side continue to vilify the other for POW maltreatment. Roger Pickenpaugh's two studies of Civil War prisoners of war facilities complement one another and offer a thoughtful exploration of issues that captives taken from both sides of the Civil War faced. In Captives in Blue, Pickenpaugh tackles issues such as the ways the Confederate Army contended with the growing prison population, the variations in the policies and practices inthe different Confederate prison camps, the effects these policies and practices had on Union prisoners, and the logistics of prisoner exchanges. Digging further into prison policy and practices, Pickenpaugh explores conditions that arose from conscious government policy decisions and conditions that were the product of local officials or unique local situations. One issue unique to Captives in Blue is the way Confederate prisons and policies dealt with African American Union soldiers. Black soldiers held captive in Confederate prisons faced uncertain fates; many former slaves were returned to their former owners, while others were tortured in the camps. Drawing on prisoner diaries, Pickenpaugh provides compelling first-person accounts of life in prison camps often overlooked by scholars in the field.
Download or read book Dawn of Victory written by Edward S. Alexander and published by Savas Beatie. This book was released on 2015-04-01 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the unprecedented violence of the 1864 Overland Campaign, Union Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant turned his gaze south of Richmond to Petersburg, and the key railroad junction that supplied the Confederate capital and its defenders. Nine grueling months of constant maneuver and combat around the Cockade City followed. As massive fortifications soon dominated the landscape, both armies frequently pushed each other to the brink of disaster. As March 1865 drew to a close, Grant planned one more charge against Confederate lines. Despite recent successes, many viewed this latest task as an impossibilityand their trepidation had merit. These lines might well have been looked upon by the enemy as impregnable, admitted Union Maj. Gen. Horatio G. Wright, and nothing but the most resolute bravery could have overcome them. Grant ordered the attack for April 2, 1865, setting the stage for a dramatic early morning bayonet charge by his VI Corps across half a mile of open ground into the strongest line of works ever constructed in America. Dawn of Victory: Breakthrough at Petersburg by Edward S. Alexander tells the story of the men who fought and died in the decisive battle of the Petersburg campaign. Readers can follow the footsteps of the resolute Union attackers and stand in the shoes of the obstinate Confederate defenders as their actions decided the fate of the nation.
Download or read book Caged Heroes written by Jon Couch and published by AuthorHouse. This book was released on 2011-11-11 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Caged Heroes - American POW Experiences from the American Revolution to the Present is snapshot of four hundred years of hostage and prisoner of war experiences. Caged Heroes details prisoners experiences from the moment they are told to put their hands up, through their detentions, and culminating in their releases. It examines the successes and failures of the United States government to prepare its forces for prisoner events; discussing survival schools, rules on how prisoners are told to act while in captivity and glimpses of how being taken prisoner effects the prisoners and guards alike. Using numerous personal interviews and diaries of former prisoners (and their spouses), the reader gets a rare look at the horrors these men and women experienced. Containing an extensive bibliography and complete POW rosters from several conflicts, this book will add to any casual readers knowledge and serve as a top reference for those wanting to understand more about this misunderstood field.
Download or read book Civil War P O W written by Larry A. Jones and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2008 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The biography, journal and letters of a frontier lawyer who enlisted in the Union Army during the Civil War, was captured, and died in Andersonville Prison, Georgia
Download or read book American Book Publishing Record written by and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 1222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Blue Gray Magazine written by and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 822 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Portals to Hell written by Lonnie R. Speer and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 468 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The holding of prisoners of war has always been both a political and a military enterprise, yet the military prisons of the Civil War, which held more than four hundred thousand soldiers and caused the deaths of fifty-six thousand men, have been nearly forgotten. Now Lonnie R. Speer has brought to life the least-known men in the great struggle between the Union and the Confederacy, using their own words and observations as they endured a true ?hell on earth.? Drawing on scores of previously unpublished firsthand accounts, Portals to Hell presents the prisoners? experiences in great detail and from an impartial perspective. The first comprehensive study of all major prisons of both the North and the South, this chronicle analyzes the many complexities of the relationships among prisoners, guards, commandants, and government leaders.
