"Escape From Point Lookout POW Camp" Topic

During the Civil War, more than 400,000 Union and Confederate soldiers were held at prisoner-of-war camps, with a tragic death toll of 56,000. Among these captives was a Confederate soldier with a remarkable tale of escape from Point Lookout POW camp in Maryland. Thirty-six years later, this soldier embarked on a journey to revisit the site of his imprisonment, hoping to meet and reward those who had shown him kindness and aided in his journey. Accompanied by a newspaper correspondent, his story was recorded and later published…

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My G-G-Grandfather after being seriously wounded at Antietam joined the Veterans Reserve Corps and later commanded part of the Point Lookout garrison. During Early's famous raid on Washington my ancestor was put in charge of the defenses of the camp.

I live very close to this place. It's a beautiful location now with forests, ospreys, bald eagles, and all types of wildlife. There is a large cemetery at the entrance to the park. It's a grim reminder about what this place use to be. Now it's a great place to go stargazing- if you have a fishing license!

I have two great-great uncles that were captured at Fort Fisher. They were brothers, one survived Point Lookout and one died at Elmira. I think they were both grim places for southern boys to end up compared to their home on the NC coast. I have been to Pt Lookout ( in fact drove by the turn off yesterday on the way to Pax River), but not yet to Elmira. There us so much tragic about that war.