HomeFinding Aids#9060 Salisbury Confederate Prison

#9060 Salisbury Confederate Prison

Salisbury Confederate Prison Materials

MSS #9060
August 2000

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Abstract:  This collection contains information on the Salisbury Prison, its prisoners, monument dedications and the Salisbury Confederate Prison bibliography.  Documents include photocopies of letters, newspaper and magazine articles.  Topics covered include baseball in the prison and prisoner diary excerpts, genealogical information and finding aids to collections of their papers.  

Subject Headings in Catalog:                       
Salisbury Confederate Prison (Salisbury, NC)
North Carolina History Civil War, 1861-1865 Prisoners and Prisons
United States History Civil War, 1861-1865 Prisoners and Prisons

Size:    2 boxes.  1 linear foot.

Provenance:      Donations from various individuals indicated with the items.  Articles gathered by library staff.

Copyright:  Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

 Introduction

 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. (KC)

  Folder List:

 Box 1

            Prison Bib Correspondence

            Alexander, N.- To “Dear Santa”

            Andersonville, N.Y. – Monument Dedication – Stop at Salisbury

            Bats, Balls Baseball & The Civil War

            Blackmer, Luke – Pardon Attempt

            Bowman, Gilbert – Elizabeth Tinsley

            Bradshaw, Harriet Ellis – R.L. Bealle

            Carle, Gen. James – Prisoner

            Ben Cass – Letter to W.D. Grimes

            Carpenter, George Coles – NY 5th Heavy Infantry

            Carte de Visite – Prison (Guard’s Tent?)

            Cave Dwellers of the Confederacy

            Clippings #1

            Clippings #2

            Clippings #3

            Confederate Veteran – May 1927

            Cook, John D. – Prisoner – Genealogy

            Craven, R.C. -  Letter – Guard

            Crocker, John S. – Correspondence

            Derbyshire, George

            De Wolf, George G. B. – Poem, Lines for the Paroled Prisoners Lately From Salisbury, N.C., and biographical information.

            Dill Correspondence

            Drummond, Robert – Correspondence

            Drummond, Robert L.

            Duel, James F. – 45th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry – 1912

            Eberly – Prison Town

            Eberly  “Salisbury”

            Efrid, Martha Jane

            Fendler (?), John W. – Guard Letter

            Fowler, Patrick – “In Memory of Pvt. Patrick Fowler”

            Gee, Dr. John Henry – Poems

            Godwin – Family Papers

            Goff, Nathan, Jr. – In The Civil War – WV History Journal – Online

Box 2

            Hale, Albert, Prison Survivor

            Hamilton Family Papers – Loyalty & Liberty in Fayette County

            Hanes, Lewis Clark Papers

            Harlan, George W.

            Honnell, Thomas – Letters

            Ladd, Henry Harrison Diary – Transcript

            Loan, William – Letter

            Maine Monument – Salisbury National Cemetery

Mangum, A.W.- Salisbury Prison

Mangum Family Papers, - Finding Aid

McCowan, Archibald – The Prisoners of War

McClain, Samuel – Papers

McRae’s Battalion – History

Miscellaneous

National Cemetery – Historical Publication

National Cemetery – “The Soldiers of Salisbury” Charlotte Observer article (5/10/96 p.10F)

Nicols, George H. – Diary Excerpt – Transcript

Owen, William – Dairies

Pennsylvania Monument – Commission Members

Pennsylvania Monument – Postcard Sent From Dedication

Prisoner Lists – Army Dept. of Henrico

Richards, R.G. – Prisoner – Photo

Richardson, Albert D. – Secret Service

Salisbury Reunion Medal

Salisbury Story, The – Louis Brown

Sparks from the Campfire

Spiritsail - "More Dead Than Alive"

Stamp Articles

“Strike For Liberty “ – O. Edward Cunningham

Stoneman’s Failed Bid for Glory

Thermal Imagining Study

Vincent, Rupert – Robert Livingstone

Walk of Journalists

“War & Peace” – Our State – June 1999

Willard Wheeler Diary – Finding Aid

Wood, William Nicol

Zimmerman, James C. – Papers – Duke University – Brief Description