Existing comment:
Point Lookout, Maryland -- View of Hammond General Hospital and US General Depot for Prisoners of War:
Vengeful guards, crowded quarters, poor sanitation, and disease created horrible conditions at Union and Confederate prisons. Maryland had its own example at the mouth of the Potomac. Point Lookout began as a general hospital but added a prison stockade, gatherings prisoners from Gettysburg and later battles. In addition to overcrowding and ration shortages, newly-recruited black regiments guarded Confederates. About 20,000 prisoners were crammed into a pen designed for 10,000. Disease and neglect claimed 3,000 lives over 22 months. |