Andersonvilles of the North : the myths and realities of Northern treatment of Civil War Confederate prisoners Cover Image

Book

Andersonvilles of the North : the myths and realities of Northern treatment of Civil War Confederate prisoners / James M. Gillispie.

Gillispie, James Massie, 1969- (Author).

Summary:

"Andersonvilles of the North, by James M. Gillispie, represents the first broad study to argue that the image of Union prison officials as negligent and cruel to Confederate prisoners is severely flawed. This study is not an attempt to "whitewash" Union prison policies or make light of Confederate prisoner mortality. But once the careful reader disregards unreliable postwar polemics, and focuses exclusively on the more reliable wartime records and documents from both Northern and Southern sources, then a much different, less negative, picture of Northern prison life emerges. While life in Northern prisons was difficult and potentially deadly, no evidence exists of a conspiracy to neglect or mistreat Southern captives. Confederate prisoners' suffering and death were due to a number of factors, but it would seem that Yankee apathy and malice were rarely among them."--Jacket.

Record details

ISBN: 9781574412550 (cloth : alk. paper)
ISBN: 1574412558 (cloth : alk. paper)
Physical Description: vii, 278 p., [8] p. of plates : ill. ; 24 cm.
Publisher: Denton, Tex. : University of North Texas Press, c2008.

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (p. 251-271) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Servants of the devil and Jeff Davis : the Northern version of the POW experiences, 1865-1920 -- The lost cause and the Southern side of the POW debate, 1865-1920 -- Continuity and change : modern writers and the issues of Federal treatment of Confederate prisoners -- Union policies, 1861-1865 -- Federal policies at the four major prisons in Illinois and Indiana -- Federal policies at the major Ohio prisons -- Point Lookout, Fort Delaware, and Elmira -- The omnipresent specter of disease.