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The Salisbury Confederate prison came into being in 1861, and following the first battle of Bull Run at Manassas, Union prisoners of war streamed into Salisbury. Joining the POWs were Southern political prisoners and conscientious objectors, as well as Confederate and Federal deserters. Originally a cotton mill and, for a short time, a boys academy, the prison grounds had held a meat packing plant for the Confederate Army. It was also the site of the general muster ground, where local boys joined the Southern Army. Life early on in the prison was harsh, but prisoners had the benefit of a large yard in which they could move about. Supplies and rations were tight but manageable. Parole and exchanges of prisoners made the Salisbury Prison little more than a way station for those individual soldiers returning home. When exchanges and paroles all but ceased late in the war, the prison soon became greatly overcrowded, and supplies fell to almost nothing. Locals who had scant rations themselves could do little to help those behind the stockade. Many prisoners died and were buried outside the walls. This was the beginning of Salisbury’s National Cemetery. Salisbury Prison gained added notoriety due to the fact that two noted journalists of the major newspaper of the day, the New York Tribune, were held there. Also there, was Col. Michael Corcoran, a popular New York Irishman, who had been chosen at random to receive the same fate as Southern privateers that the North had declared to be pirates. David Livingstone, the famous abolitionist, had a son who died in the prison under an assumed name, Rupert Vincent. The prison also held the very first POW of the war. ...ed. Note: I hope that any of you reading this will donate any information that you have to this database. Any information on Philadelphia City and County Union Forces can be used. If I don't have the name of your individual in the database, please send me all the info and I will insert it. This would be most appreciated, Kimmer
The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 17, 1865, Page 1 The exchange of prisoners, under the auspices of Colonel John E. Mulford, at Varina, on the James River, is still progressing very rapidly. The steamship Champion sailed from here last evening, for Point Lookout, Md., to load with Rebel prisoners, and from thence will go to Varlna and take a load of our prisoners in exchange, to Annapolis, Md. Colonel Mulford, in the exercise of his important duties as Assistant Agent of Exchange, is earning a long-due reputation, and winning the lasting esteem of the poor victims of Rebel barbarism, by his persistent efforts In bringing about their release from the odious captivity to which they have been subjected for so many long months, and it is sincerely to be hoped that the good work, so promisingly began, will not be allowed to lag, but will be prosecuted with a determined zeal, until every one of our soldiers now held by the Rebel authorities shall be exchanged and returned either to their homes in the North, or to the commodious hospitals that i have been so lavishly erected in many of our principal cities. The Salisbury Prison. Salisbury. North Carolina, which for a long time formed one of the principal Southern depots for the incarceration of our soldiers captured in battle, and whose annals are filled with the bitterest and most heart-rending incidents of the whole war, and has proved a vast cemetery and I burial place for so many of our soldiers who have fell victims to starvation and ill-treatment, has at last been entirely depleted of its occupant, who have all been sent to Richmond, Virginia, and thence to Varina to be exchanged. Awful Mortality Caused by Rebel Brutality. From a statement made by a Mr. William Kldder, a private of the Fourth New Hampshire Volunteers, captured about a year ago, in front of Petersburg, and who was paroled at Salisbury, N. C, and employed as a clerk in the hospital, it appears that out of an aggregate number of 8700 of our prisoners placed in that prison during the month of last October, only 35OO survived to be exchanged when the roll was called and the order given by the Rebel authorities, about a month since, for them to be transported to Varlna. This is a fact, and a terrible fact, and when placed side by side with the records and data kept at Point Lookout, Md., and other of our depots for Rebel prisoners, the comparison between the treatment received by the prisoners retained by the two parties in the war becomes at once apparent. In fact, it has been frequently a subject much given to comment, that such is the treatment that Rebel prisoners receive while in the North, that every steamer load of them that is sent to Varina to be exchanged are just ready and almost equipped to take the field; while those of our men, on the other hand, who leave Richmond, are so starved and emaciated, or suffering from diseases contracted during imprisonment, as to be proper subjects for the hospital, and must undergo a strict medical course of treatment before they can be even restored to health, let alone to shouldering the musket and entering the army. Albany Evening Journal, December 17, 1866; Page 1; The Records of Salisbury Prison, Owing the ill success attending all efforts heretofore made to discover the whereabouts of the prison records at Salisbury, N. C., it was generally believed that no records were kept, but the relatives of the men who died in this prison and were buried around it will be thankful to learn that after a persevering and skilfully conducted search, made by Brevet Lieutenant Colonel James M. Moore, the Quartermaster having charge of the National Cemeteries, the monthly reports of the prison officials have been discovered and secured. These reports contain the names, rank and regiment of over two thousand of the Union dead buried in North Carolina and at Belle Isle, Va. A large proportion of those men of our armies who never returned to the homes wcre reported in the official lists of casualties as " missing," and no tidings of their fate have ever been received by their anxious friends. Thousands of families in the land are yet suffering the terrible suspenae of hoping still to meet these lost ones, and yet feariug that they have filled a soldier's grave. Many of these men were captured by the enemy, died in prison and were buried, their friends knowing nothing more of their fate than the melancholy fact that they are still missing. By the discovery of these reports the friends of two thousand deceased soldiers will be informed of the death of the long absent loved ones; but very few indeed of the remains can be identified, owing to the neglect of the prison authorities to place any record on the graves to establish the identity of the deceased. The remains are buried in seventeen trenches, each about two hundred and thirty feet in length. The trenches were dug and the soldiers were buried by Union solders and loyal civilians, who were confined in the Salisbury prison, under the charge of a rebel sergeant and a squad of privates, and the remains were packed in these trenches, one body upon another, and covered with earth. The reports containing these names will be placed on file in the Death and Burial Bureau, and any information in reference to them will doubtless be furnished by Lieut-Col. Moore on application to him. |
Salisbury Confederate PrisonPENNSYLVANIA* PRISONERS RETURNED FROM SALISBURY PRISON, MAY, 1862 As Reported by the New York Tribune, Arriving June 9, 1862 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Adams, James, 8th US Inf. | Andree, Ambrose, 1st US Cav. | Ashelman, Jacob, 15th PA |
| Baird. D., 15th PA | Barger, Wm. J., 3d US Inf | Barlow, E.I., 6th 01.1 |
| Bedlyan, Amos, 16th PA | Belger, John, Col., Whatley's Reg. | Buckingham, T.C., Ringold Cav. |
| Bowers, John, 2d US Art. | Brown, Charles, 2nd US Art. | Brown, Henry, 2d US Art. |
| Burke, Patrick, 15th PA | Burritt, John, 6th PA | Burritt, John, US Art. |
| Cambell, Alex, 5th US Art. | Cannon, M., US Marines | Carver, Wm. J., 15th PA |
| Cassidy, James 1., 2d US Cav. | Chase, Edwin, 8th PA | Clark, Henry, US Marines |
| Clink, Fred, 15th PA | Connell, John, 2d US Drag | Conohan, M., 15th PA |
| Cook, J.A., US Marines | Dalton, Joseph, | Day, Samuel, 15th PA |
| Desmond, Wm., 2d US Art. | Dietrick, J.K., 15th PA | Dillon, J.. 2d US Art. |
| Dubbs, John, 15th PA | Eagan, Joseph, 16th PA | Earner, EJ., 15th PA |
| Edwards, A.H., 15th PA | Ernst, Christian, 15th PA | Fleming, Thomas, 16th PA |
| Foley, Edward, US Marines | Gaddis. John, 6th PA | Glannon, P., 15th PA |
| Grage, H., 3d US Inf. | Halstead, John, | Hanby, John H., 6th |
| Hari, T.D. | Hauer, Gottlob, 2d, US Art. | Hepp, George, 2d US Art. |
| Hess, C.B. 15th PA | Hoffman, S.H., 15th PA | Hoskin, lC.,15th PA |
| Houck, James, Col. Pennebacker | Howard, J.A., 5th US Art. | Hoyt, M., 15th PA |
| Hunt, George, US Marines | Jenkins, John, 15th PA | Kahley, Joseph, 15th PA |
| Kelley, P., 1st US Art. | Kennedy, E. 7th | Kennedy, James, 3rd |
| Kling, Casper, 6th PA | Kresslar, J., US Marines | Lane, John, US Marines |
| Langdon, John, 1st US Art. | Latimer. John, 8th US Inf. | Layne. J.N., 9th |
| Lowden, James, 6th US Cav. | Mack, J.P., 7th | Marks. J.W., 15th Pa |
| Marsh, E.C., 2d US | McCoy, l Iugh, US Marines | McGrath, J., 3d US Inf. |
| McGuire, Thomas, 2d, US Art. | McLaughlin, Neil, 2d US Inf. | Miller, K.A., Col. Wheat |
| Miller, Larry, Lincoln Xav. | Milles, Thomas, 2d US int. | Moran, Charles, |
| Morey, Thomas. 101st PA | Morgan, E., 5th PA | Morgan, J., 15th PA |
| Morrill, H.T, US Marines | Muller, John, | Murphy, Edward, 2d US Cav. |
| Murphy, Patrick, 3d, US Inf. | Murphy, Richard, 3d US Inf. | Murray, M.L.. Col. Hobson |
| Murry, Thomas, 101st PA | Niland. Mich, 2d US Art. | O'Brian, John, Lincoln Cav. |
| Oysterhay, John, 6th | Palmer, W.P., 15th PA | Paxson. John, Molts Batt. |
| Pearcy, Sam. Col Girders | Quinn, R., 8th NY Inf. | Rank, A,P., 15th PA |
| Rice, W.C., Col Rogers | Rich, J.O. | Riley, Patrick, 3d US inf. |
| Reynolds, John W, 15th PA | Rodgers, J.W., Col Girders | Roush, W., 15th PA |
| Royal, I, 3d UST | Sankey, Henry, 15th PA | Saylor, A., 15th PA |
| Schlotterbeck, Conrad. 15th PA | Schraut, A., 2d, US Art. | Scott, James, 10th PA |
| Seibert, D.S., 15th PA | Serl, W. | Seymour, Wm., 2d US Inf |
| Shander, J. | Sherry, John, 6th US Cav. | Shipp, Wnt., Col, Pennebacker |
| Shoemaker, II | Simms, J.W. | Sinclair, J.J. |
| Sinclair, Thos J., 2d UC Cav. | Slemons. J., US Marines | Smith, E.J.. 2d US Cav |
| Smith. Jas. | Smith. Wm. | Steiner. G, US Marines |
| Stewart, S.B. | Stiner, S. | Swaney. Win., Col Williams |
| Tattersall, E., US Cav. | Thomas. J., 15th PA | Thompson, Alec V., 1st US Art. |
| Threlkeld, G.W., 15th PA | Thuringer, Joseph, US Art. | Tice, Samuel, 15th PA |
| Towle, J.L., Col Gender | Trijeur, M. | Turetto. G., 15th PA |
| Walters. G.W..151 PA | Welsh. S., | Went G., 15th PA |
| Wessinger. J., | Whalan, E.B., 3rd, US Cav | White, Michael, 2nd US Cav |
| Williams, George.2d US Cav | Williams, J.C,15th PA | Williams, J .W.. Lincoln Cav. |
| Wilson. John. 6th US Cav. | Wilson, L.F.. 15th PA | Wood, A.J.. US Marines |
| Wooley, John. 15th PA | Worthington. L., Pa Cav. | Wright C.. 3d US Inf |
| ed. Note: *This list may not be complete or accurate. Good records were not kept by the Prison Officials and some of the information has been gleaned from Newspaper articles, etc. All spellings are as they appear. If a state was not listed, I have included that person in the PA list just because. | ||
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Last updated on 8 JUNE, 2009 Visitor #
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GENEALOGY TRAILS GROUP AND HEATHER & THISTLE STUDIOS |
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