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Libby Prison Breakout: The Daring Escape from the Notorious Civil War Prison

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By 1864 arrangements between the Union and Confederacy for exchanging prisoners-of-war had broken down, resulting in horrendously over-crowded conditions at Richmond's Libby Prison where Union officers were held. Finally, over a hundred of them escaped in a single mass break out through a tunnel secretly dug beyond the prison walls; half of escapees succeeded in reaching Union Army lines and safety. "Libby Prison Break Out" is a vivid, detailed account of that break out, including the background of prisoner exchanges, Union raids against Richmond, and the activities of secret Union sympathizers such as Elizabeth Van Lew who aided the escapees.

Although obviously this book has a particular appeal for students of the American Civil War, its story of dramatic, exciting events should be readily appreciated by a much broader audience of general readers.

Quite an amazing story of how two men, Colonel Thomas Rose and Major A. G. Hamilton, had the fortitude and incredible drive to find a way to tunnel out of Libby prison in spite of grotesque conditions and repeated failures due to physical obstacles, guards and minimal tools. The author provides an excellent capsule of how the prison exchange system broke down initially by the Confederates failure to exchange black union soldiers and their officers and other individuals such as raiders into the Deep South like Colonel Streight. As noted by the author, this played into the Unions grand plans of total war as well fed, healthy confederates were returning to action while underfed and sickly union prisoners were at least initially invalids, many succumbing to death. However, as the author also details, the south was ill equipped to maintain so many prisoners and care for them as well, which underlines the severely limited food and the poor conditions of the prison system. The enlisted are kept on Belle Island in Richmond in even more exposed conditions while the officers were kept in the large, long sectioned and multi-floored old warehouse that included a dungeon for punishment and a basement that reeks of kitchen remnants and privy excess and 100s of river rats. The poor conditions and the extreme measures by prison guards helped generate the desperation to escape. Great attention in the book is granted to union sympathizer and spy Elizabeth Van Lew who coordinated Richmond unionist activities, running an underground railroad for escaped union soldiers. Her organization capabilities were so astounding that she was even able to secretly recover the body of Eric Dahlgren, who was in charge of the wing that was to capture and release the prisoners of Libby Prison and raid Richmond, after Dahlgren's was 'buried like a dog' in a remote unmarked grave. Dahlgren's raid with Kilpatrick's failed diversion was inspired by the testimony of exchanged prisoners who told of the horrors of the prison and the fear that they would be soon be transferred deeper south to Andersonville. The failure to keep the prison exchange program created cruel circumstance for the south that underlined their limited resources, barely capable of feeding their army in the latter part of the war, they had virtually little resource to feed and care for thousands. In the epilogue, the author recognizes that a large number of confederate prisoners died as well in spite of better conditions; however, a true comparison cannot be made accurately since confederate prison records were limited in accuracy. This is quite a well-written story of a difficult period that the author notes ended the civilized dealing of prisoners for all wars.

It has been referred to as "The Bastille of the South". In March 1862 General John Winder informed a man named Luther Libby, a Maine native and Richmond businessman that the Confederate government was expropriating his three building tobacco warehouse complex for use as a prison for captured Union officers. Over the next three years thousands of Union officers would be incarcerated in a facility that would come to be known as Libby Prison. The place would prove to be a real hellhole. The prisoners were never allowed to go outside for fresh air and exercise. Food rations were limited to rock-hard corn bread, rancid meat and bug-infested soup. The men were not issued blankets and most were forced to sleep on the floor. This was a place filled with despair and many escape plots would be hatched. Most of these plans were unsuccessful until one fateful night in February 1864 when 109 men crawled to freedom through a narrow tunnel that teams of prisoners had been working on for weeks. Author Joseph Wheelan has chronicled these harrowing events for us in his terrific new 2010 book "Libby Prison Breakout: The Daring Escape from the Notorious Civil War Prison". It reads like a work of fiction but "Libby Prison Breakout" reveals in incredible detail this little known aspect of the Civil War that has largely been lost over the past 150 years. I simply could not put this one down.

Anyone who has even a casual interest in the Civil War knows about Andersonville prison in southwest Georgia. But oddly enough I had never even heard of Libby Prison. Evidently very little has been written about it. I only became interested when my 92 year old mother mentioned that her father had told her on several occasions that a member of the family had been imprisoned there. As it turns out I discovered that Libby Prison actually preceded Andersonville and was primarily used to incarcerate captured Union officers. Union soldiers were imprisoned a just short distance away in Richmond at a place called Belle Isle. History records that conditions in both places were absolutely atrocious. In "Libby Prison Breakout" Joseph Wheelan paints a rather vivid picture of the circumstances that led to this extremely unfortunate situation. Earlier in the Civil War prisoner exchanges were conducted on a fairly regular basis. However, for a variety of reasons these transactions were largely eliminated as the conflict wore on placing even greater stress on the South's already scarce resources. At the same time the success of the Union Army's strategy to cut off the supply lines to the South had the undesired effect of leaving Confederate officials with little choice but to cut the rations to their prisoners. When you understand that the Confederacy was having a very difficult time just feeding its own troops you begin to comprehend why conditions in these prisons were so deplorable. It simply was not nor could it be a priority for them.

The second half of the book focuses on the planning and execution of the actual breakout. Here you will meet the mastermind of the operation Colonel Thomas Ellwood Rose and a number of his co-conspirators. This was a tenacious group that overcame numerous obstacles and setbacks before they finally succeeded. Joseph Wheelan describes the entire operation in excruciating detail. You will also be introduced to some of the key Union sympathizers in Richmond during this time, most notably Elizabeth Van Lew, a Richmond socialite who risked everything and provided invaluable assistance to the Union cause. I found "Libby Prison Breakout: The Daring Escape from the Notorious Civil War Prison" to be an extremely well written and meticulously researched volume. I believe the book to be a very important addition to the literature on the American Civil War. Very highly recommended!

I enjoyed this book immensely! I became interested in Libby prison after reading another book that referred to it briefly and I was happy for the opportunity to learn more about the "Great Escape."
Wheelan portrayed the historical events in a way that was informative, interesting and breathtaking. As the reader, I was able to feel the intensity and emotion of the moment as plans were set and, eventually, as the prisoners made their escape. I most definitely recommend this book!

This was a very, very enjoyable read. When we think of prison camps during this era,it is usually Andersonville that comes to mind. The author here gives a great, historical view of Libby Prison in Richmond, as well as the famous escape.
However, he also gives a wonderful view of Elizabeth Van Lew (a Union spy in Richmond)
Also, a nice overview of the war, in general is offered here. This book belongs in your Civil War library.

LIBBY PRISON BREAKOUT may remind you somewhat of the 2010 political bickering between the two major parties. The North accused the South of deliberately mistreating its prisoners; The Confederated denied it. The North refused to exchange prisoners because the 30,000 soldiers who surrendered at Vicksburg returned to action and because the Rebel prisoners were much more capable of returning to action. Confederates also refused to trade black prisoners and white officers who led them into battle.

Probably the most remarkable characters in the book are Colonel Thomas E. Rose, a former Pennsylvania schoolteacher, who led four separate efforts to dig the prisoners' way out of Libby Prison. Rose was relentless when everyone else was willing to give up. He did most of the digging himself when the last effort neared fruition. The other major character was Elizabeth Van Lew, a union spy who managed to plant a union sympathizer into Libby Prison who ran the head count and conveniently looked the other way when some of the prisoners were missing because they were digging. She also carried on a constant communication with Grant using a cipher code.

The most exciting part of the book is author Joseph Wheelan's account of the prisoners attempt to reach union lines after their escape. Wheelan also provides a brief epilogue about what happened to the various characters after the war and a picture section. With so many Civil War books out there, this one provides a unique perspective about a little known subject.