"Civil War Prisions" Topic

"Out of some 3.8 million combatants in the Civil War, over 400,000 were at some point taken prisoner. That figure represents more than the total number of troops who died, and roughly as many as the number wounded. Some were paroled during prisoner exchanges and, despite the required oath of non-combat, went back to their regiments to fight again; others languished for months or years under increasingly crowded conditions in over two hundred prison sites from Massachusetts to Texas and as far west as California. A few escaped. Many-- between 45,00 and 50,000--died in prison from wounds, from infectious diseases such as smallpox, or, most commonly and tragically, from illnesses related to substandard sanitary conditions, contaminated food and water, abysmal nutrition, and from lack of proper clothing and shelter. Medical care, already woefully strained in each army's own hospitals, was even more scarce for enemy prisoners. Some soldiers killed each other, or themselves, under the duress of prison life…"
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