Existing comment:
Belle Isle
During the winter of 1863-1864, the island visible from this spot held up to 8,000 Union army prisoners.
After the outbreak of the Civil War, prisoners poured into Richmond. Camps built only as transport stations soon became permanent. Over the course of the war, several thousand Belle Isle prisoners died, many during the harsh winter of 1863, when the entire city was overcrowded and undersupplied. |