Captives in Gray: The Civil War Prisons of the Union
No topic related to the American Civil War is more debated than the treatment of prisoners by both the Union and the Confederacy. In his latest book, Captives in Gray, Roger Pickenpaugh focuses on all Union prisons. One of his previous books was a detailed analysis of the Camp Chase prisoner of war camp. Using that as a foundation, Pickenpaugh now embarks on a detailed analysis of the entire Union system for managing prisoners of war. Pickenpaugh takes the reader from the almost nonexistent and poorly managed Union program at the start of the war through various revisions to ultimately what becomes the fore-runner of today’s modern military prisoner of war system. At the start of the Civil War, the Union was woefully lacking in the management of logistical operations, especially for a long drawn-out conflict. This was especially true in the management of captured enemy prisoners of war. Like the Confederacy, the Union did not expect or prepare for a protracted conflict. Therefore, the North suffered from an almost nonexistent infrastructure, as well as an uninformed group of politicians and military officers managing prisoner of war operations. At the beginning of the war, the prison system was placed under the oversight of the Office of the Quartermaster. This office made valiant attempts to survey available training camps and other facilities that might be able to house large numbers of enemy prisoners. Yet through their ignorance, many in the Quartermaster Department were unaware of the criteria that should be used in selecting a prison camp site. Most of this ignorance must be placed in the proper context. In the mid-1860s, much of the information and tools used today in managing prison operations were simply not thought of yet. As a result, factors like facility drainage, cleanliness and prison capacity were not adequately thought out or planned. This caused massive overcrowding, the spread of disease and an uneven distribution of food and other resources at the various facilities. Pickenpaugh’s book is divided into a variety of chapters that describe the following key topics: the initial prisoner exchange program and its eventual collapse; the difficulty managing a system that had to be built from scratch very rapidly; and the consequences to a prisoner’s welfare later during the war when the Union war aims shifted from a more chivalrous conflict to total war. The author does an excellent job accomplishing his goal, which is to provide a detailed analysis of the Union prison system. His illustrations give the reader a deeper appreciation of the suffering endured by prisoners and the type of accommodations that were available. The book is carefully researched from a wide variety of diaries and manuscripts, which makes it an excellent reference tool. One additional point for the casual reader is that some of the editing is distracting and caused the book to be a little difficult to read in parts. There were several instances, like the one on page 50, where transitions were choppy. The reader could easily become confused when reading about a discussion with two characters and then an interjectory quotation from a third party was inserted. This caused the paragraph to be stiff, because it was difficult to tell who was stating what to whom. There were minor grammatical errors on several pages such as only one space between a period and the start of the next sentence. The editing causes this book to be a good work versus an excellent work. Despite some obstacles to overcome, this reviewer recommends the work as a solid reference on the problems associated with managing prisoner of war camps. Reviewer: Richard J. Blumberg Richard J. Blumberg has a master’s degree with honors in Civil War studies. He is past president of the Houston Civil War Round Table and is a speaker for that group and the Society of Women in the Civil War. He also reviews books for the Blue and Gray Education Society.
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Illustrated, endnotes, acknowledgements, bibliography, index, 287 pp., 2009. The University of Alabama Press, Chicago Distribution Center, 11030 S. Langley, Chicago, IL 60628, $29.95 plus shipping.