Transforming Civil War Prisons: Lincoln, Lieber, and the Politics of Captivity (Critical Moments in American History)

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Description

During the Civil War, 410,000 people were held as prisoners of war on both sides. With resources strained by the unprecedented choice of prisoners, conditions in overcrowded prison camps were dismal, and the death toll across Confederate and Union prisons reached 56,000 by the end of the war. In an try to reinforce prison conditions, President Lincoln issued General Orders 100, which might transform the root for future attempts to define the rights of prisoners, including the Geneva conventions. Meanwhile, stories of horrific prison experiences fueled political agendas on both sides, and would define the memory of the war, as every region worked aggressively to defend its prison record and to honor its own POWs.

Robins and Springer examine the experience, culture, and politics of captivity, including war crimes, disease, and the usage of former prison sites as locations of historical memory. Transforming Civil War Prisons introduces students to an underappreciated yet a very powerful aspect of waging war and shows how the legacy of Civil War prisons remains with us nowadays.

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