The Photographic History of The Civil War: in ten volumes, Thousands of Scenes Photographed 1861-65, with Text by many Special Authorities, Volume 7: Prisons and Hospitals.
Francis Trevelyan Miller, Ed.

---

[56] tents were pitched, as at City Point, Maryland, and on Belle Isle in the James River; sixth, open stockades in which men were placed to secure shelter as best they might. Andersonville is the best known of such prison enclosures.

The fortifications, so far as enlisted men were concerned, were not important. Private soldiers were sent to Fort Warren during the first year of the war, and some of the naval prisoners were confined there afterward, but this prison held chiefly political prisoners and general officers of the Confederacy. It bears the unique distinction of being the only one which all inmates praise. For the greater part of the war it was under charge of Colonel (later Brigadier-General) Justin Dimick, an old army officer, who preserved discipline by kindness.

Fort Lafayette, New York, held the privateersmen previously mentioned, and Confederate officers, but was chiefly devoted to the restraint of citizens accused of disloyalty to the United States. Its commander was Colonel Martin Burke, of whom General Scott said: ‘ Colonel Martin Burke is famous for his unquestioning obedience to orders. He was with me in Mexico, and if I had told him at any time to take one of my aides-de-Camp and shoot him before breakfast, the aide's execution would have been duly reported.’

In Fort McHenry, Baltimore, the prisoners were always drawn from many classes, privates, officers, chaplains, surgeons, and citizens suspected of disloyalty. The number of the latter was large at times, as probably a majority of the citizens of Maryland was Southern in sympathy.

Fort Delaware, in the Delaware River, held prisoners of state and officers also within the fort, but it is better known as a place of confinement for private soldiers. Barracks for their accommodation were constructed within the wall surrounding the fort, and the number in confinement was always large. The ground upon which the prisoners were placed was several feet below the level of high water, which was kept out by means of dikes. The poorly constructed barracks in the shape of a ‘ T’