Customer Reviews

Elmira: Death Camp of the North

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3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

When talk turns to American Civil War prisons, its often the Confederate's Andersonville, Ga., site that comes first to mind and gets the credit for creating a hell-on-earth for captured soldiers. But Michael Horigan's 2002 book about a northern camp helps set the record straight: Elmira was just as bad and probably worse.

Horigan spent years researching, lecturing about and writing "Elmira: Death Camp of the North" and he makes strong arguments that support the idea that Elmira's abuse of its prisoners was intentional, and the South's abuse of theirs was more a matter of a lack of resources and funds. He reports strong evidence to support his claims, including records that show the Elmira prison camp officers sat on a $239,000 fund without shelling out for food or clothing, and mail between officers showing bureaucracy at its worst.

In fact, much of the book focuses on the decision-makers at the camp, in Albany and in Washington who dragged their feet or ignored problems. It took them nearly half a year to approve a plan to drain Foster's Pond, an open cesspool that likely contributed to illness and disease. The commanding officer, Col. Benjamin F. Tracy, instituted a policy to reject about half the beef intended for Confederate prisoners, which Horigan says essentially helped starve many men to death. By the time the camp closed in July 1865 after just one year in operation, nearly 3,000 men had died there along the banks of the Chemung River.

Horigan's book is engaging, lively and well-researched. Later chapters reiterate earlier points without boring. Even if you're not into the Civil War or prison history, you'll find this book a good, brisk read.

Mr Horigan's detailed report shows the other side of the Andersonville(Ga) coin - the Northern prison at Elmira! While gut reaction to civil war prison life makes one usually think of the horrors of the Georgia settlement, Horigan deftly outlines the shameful treatment of Confederate prisoners at this installation in an area relatively untouched by the hardships of war. While one could argue many "excuses" for the ill-treatment of Federal troop at Andersonville, Horigan details that NO excuse could exist for the probably deliberate hardships suffered by those at Elmira. Adequate transportation and abundant food existed in the surrounding area, but little was done to offer humane treatment to the incarcerated. Horigan attempts to "name names" and offers insights into the real "villains" in this shameful episode.

Although the text reads a bit static or flat, Horigan makes his points with emphasis. The last chapter summary is well done, too. I'd have like a map or sketch of the grounds and environs, however.

When I was eight or nine, my family took a Civil War summer vacation: we visited Gettysburg, Antietam, Harper's Ferry, Manassas. We toured battlefields. We went to museums that showed artifacts - minie balls and cannon balls, examples of uniforms and swords, flags of various regiments, photos and paintings showing scenes from the critical days. We saw films, wax museums, displays. It was fascinating, and brought history to life for me. I've always been thankful to have traveled to these places when I was so young.

What I didn't realize is how much Civil War history there was to learn about right here in the Twin Tiers.

Because of my father's ongoing interest in history, and my own interest in books, I knew of MacKinlay Kantor's Pulitzer Prize winning book, "Andersonville", an intricate novel detailing life in and around the infamous prison camp in the South. I learned that the Andersonville Prison was a place of horror, where Union soldiers were taken to die by neglect and appalling conditions. Many of us learn of this, at least in passing, because the North won, and winners get to focus on their perspective of the events, people, and places that make up the stories that become history. And then there are books written - several excellent books have been researched and published on Andersonville - and movies made. Eventually, though, enough time passes and people become interested in their local history without feeling indicted by the shame in it. And so, as Michael Horigan explains in the introduction to his book, "Elmira: Death Camp of the North", in 1974 he was asked to teach a graduate workshop on the history of the Civil War prison camp in our backyard.

Over the years of teaching this class for Elmira College, Michael Horigan's file on the prison camp and the history of Elmira leading up to the Civil War grew, as did his interest. After a year-long sabbatical for research, as well as weekends and summers for many years after, Stackpole Books finally published the definitive, authoritative work on the camp where over 12,000 Confederate soldiers were brought to "Helmira". Horigan's book is a wonderful testament to the years of work that went in to researching and writing it. Each page, each paragraph, is loaded with details, footnotes, and facts, but the sentences flow smoothly, and the reading never feels weighed down. This is a history which explains and evokes the era, fascinates, elucidates, saddens, cautions, differentiates. Though the Elmira Prison Camp had a death rate almost as high as that of Andersonville, Horigan is careful to explain the differences in the reasons behind those statistics. Ultimately, "Elmira: Death Camp of the North" is a compelling read, because it's much more than a collection of facts: it's the story of America cementing its identity as the United States, shown through the microcosm of a town we know.

This book provieds plenty of ammunition for debates, when people say how terrible Andersonville was.

The North NEVER had a food shortage, Never had an embargo, with-holding food, medicine or clothing. Yet, all this was PURPOSELY with held from the Southern POW's at NOT only Elmira, but other Northern POW camps for pure and simple revenge. This book contains the documents by General Halleck and Col. Hoffman, who ordered the suffering of these poor Southern soldiers.

Using information from this book, has already IN MANY OF MY DISCUSSIONS, quickly halted the accusations of The Terrible Southern POW camps.

The facts are extremely well documented, and the book, while a great read, does a vivid description of the horrors of Elmira. ( Called, "Hell-mira"--by the POW's) ( This book does include photos)

In conclusion, after reading this book, one may wonder how can civilized people, treat their fellow human beings this way. Unfortunatly, this is another chapter of Americas shameful history.

Mike Horrigan initiated my interest in the civil war many years ago when he first started his course on the Civil War prison camp in Elmira, New York. I ice skated on Foster's Pond as a child, which was in the middle of the prison camp compound. Being on the site of the camp during winter brings it home as to how the prisoners must have suffered there. Mike has done a masterful job at weaving his research in to a thought provoking tapestry. This is a very good read!!

Pat Patterson

Elmira, located just a few miles north of the Pennsylvania/New York border, was undoubtedly the worst Federal prisoner of war camp during the Civil War. It was in operation only from July 1864 to July 1865, and held a grand total of slightly over 12,000 Confederate prisoners. Astoundingly, its death rate was almost a full one-quarter.

I say "astoundingly" because most of the deaths were unnecessary. No one wants to defend the terrible conditions in Confederate-run prisoner of war camps. But at least it is arguable that a good deal of their harshness is attributable to a scarcity of food, clothing, medicines, and building supplies in the increasingly war-impoverished south. As Michael Horigan argues in his Elmira: Death Camp of the North, the federal camps had no such excuse. The north was rich in men and material. The deaths at Elmira seem attributable to deliberate negligence, outright retribution, or criminal inefficiency.

Horigan's history of Elmira carefully defends this claim. The camp was thrown together in a hodge-podge fashion, with way too few barracks built and way too many prisoners of war crammed onto the camp grounds. As late as November and December of 1864, both of which were bitterly cold, overflow prisoners were living in tents. Moreover, continuous bickering between medical officers and camp commanders led to stonewalling in the camp when it came to draining a pond whose pollution was contaminating drinking water and red-tape confusion in communications about supplies between the camp and Washington DC. Inefficiency, short-sightedness, and indifference made bad conditions worse.

But Horigan argues that mistreatment of prisoners was also deliberate policy. Secretary of War Stanton, responding to reports about harsh conditions in Libby Prison, Belle Isle, and Andersonville, ordered that rations for Confederate prisoners be cut by 20%. Winter clothing, blankets, and medical supplies were also held up as retributory measures. And at the local level, orders were issued that drastically reduced daily rations of beef, under the false pretense that the beef was tainted.

Horigan's book tends to be redundant--it could probably have been cut by some fifty pages--and the style is a bit flat. But the author does a really fine job of documenting the prisoner abuse that took place at the prison camp that came to be called "Helmira." One of the more shocking details of his story is the apparent indifference of many of the civilian residents of Elmira to the prisoners' fate. In fact, observation towers were built just outside the prison walls by creative entrepeneurs. For just one dime, curious civilians could climb the towers to gawk at the Confederate prisoners.

Civil wars are always brutal, and our own Civil War was no exception. There are few more dramatic encapsulations of the hatred each side felt for the other than prisoner of war camps. It's important to remember this side of the American Civil War, lest we fall into the temptation to romanticize it. (Please note that reenactors never simulate prison camps.) Horigan is to be commended for reminding us of the ugly truth about the war's treatment of prisoners.
______
* Comment of G.T. Taylor, 1st Alabama Battalion of Heavy Artillery and an Elmira prisoner. Quoted on page 101.

I read the book from start to finish. And I cannot believe that no one was ever punished. The restrictions on food was alarming.
There was more personnel that should have been punished,starting with Secretay Stanton.

I was so irritated by the numerous syntax and diction errors in this book that I went to the publisher's website to try to complain. Unfortunately, there is no contact button. So, I'm reduced to this forum. I actually marked the errors in the book for the first 50 pages or so. Sight used to mean site, perpetuate used to mean perpetrate can be excused as simple spelling errors. Lines such as "mastered a command of the French language," "unfettered depiction of Indian life were captured on canvas," "Disabilities and diseases that accrued in the line of duty," "was within a military orthodoxy that was tantamount to dogma," are a few of the examples which really bothered me in the first 30 pages. Redundant language, tortured phraseology, mismatched subject-verb structures were bad, but worse were sentences which just plain made no sense.

This is a real shame since the story is interesting, needed to be told, and the research seems well done. The author just needed an editor to insist on simple, direct, compelling language.

The subtitled of this book might bring a reflection that there was a "final solution" created by Northern government to the Confederate POWs problems and that the solution will take place at Elmira.

I think the author tries too hard to paint a gruesome picture of Elmira prison camp and tries too hard to compared it with some of the worst stuff that was going on in the south. Its like comparing apple and pineapple. Even by the author's account, most of the deaths at the prison camp was caused by illnesses and dieases, contributing factors may been prison officials indifference, ignorance and politics. Author stated that retaliation against southern mistreatment of northern prisoners had a major factor in determining treatment. Still, the photos I have seen of Confederate POWs coming out of Elmira contrast heavily to the human ruins that came out of Andersonville.

Its pretty obvious that the author do seem to be an authority on the Elmira camp but I questioned his objectivity and his perception. While Elmira may have been a callous disregard, Andersonville was a criminal disregard for prisoners' welfare. Author who appears to live in that area of New York State, can't seem to understand the difference between the two as some of the previous reviewers of this book. But the book reads very well, some parts seem to be bit redundant at times but I found it to be an interesting read despite of some objectionable opinions.

Thus while the book do have some merits, comparing it with Andersonville isn't one of them. Making excuses for southern treatments of northern prisoners isn't one of them. Of 600,000 deaths during the American Civil War, most were due to illnesses and dieases and in hindsight, many of them could have been prevented through proper hygenic codes, better food, better clothing and more. Maybe Elmira could have been handled better but I have read where regiments have lost 20-30% of their numbers to the same causes in open camps, probably for the same reasons. Elmira may have been a bad place but I am sure most Union prisoners at Andersonville would gladly change places with their Confederate counterparts.

An interesting book, but it doesn't obviate the horrors of Andersonville or any other Confederate prison as some of the reviewers here contend. One need only read accounts of Union prisoners captured early in the war, especially at the Seven Days battles ("Fallen Soldier" by Andrew Roy comes to mind), to see that poor treatment of Federal POWs was a hallmark of Confederate captivity from almost the beginning of war and preceded the likes of Elmira by two years. Union soldiers who were exchanged and sent back home or returned to the army reported that Libby and the other tobacco warehouse prisons in Richmond were full of wounded men not being properly cared for, that prisoners had to sleep on floors covered with excrement, had bad drinking water, poor rations, and could barely even breath in the fetid atmosphere of buildings designed to store tobacco, not hold prisoners. This attitude toward Union prisoners, even while the exchange system was still operating, fostered a like-minded attitude in the North toward prisoners. I'm not saying that two wrongs make a right, but today's neo-secessionists blind themselves to the fact that bad treatment of prisoners was first initiated by the Confederates. I give this book two stars as a compromise: four-stars for the research, but only one-star for drawing narrow conclusions and obviously playing up to an audience of neo-Confederate revisionists who seem to think the only way to somehow explain Andersonville is to scream "Elmira" while deliberately forgetting about the early-war Richmond warehouse-prisons had no early-war Union counterpart.