My grandfather’s uncle died in Libby Prison in Richmond, VA. Where can I find more information and a record of the Union prisoners that were imprisoned there?

- J. Kerr, New Castle, Pennsylvania

Libby Prison, one of the most famous prisons during the Civil War, was located at the southeast corner of 20th St. and Cary St. in Richmond, VA. Confederate officials used the former warehouse of Libby and Son, Ship Chandlers and Grocers as temporary imprisonment for Union officers and a few enlisted men awaiting parole or exchange. Union soldiers would arrive at Libby Prison, were registered as prisoners of war, and were then transferred to another Confederate prison like Belle Isle, also in Richmond. More than 50,000 men passed through Libby from 1862 until 1864, when Confederate officials realized the dangers of having such a concentration of Union prisoners in their capital, and moved the prisoners to Macon, Georgia, replacing them with Confederate military prisoners.

Captain Thomas P. Turner of Clarke County, Virginia superintended the prison with support from his warden, Major Richard R. “Dick” Turner. Union deserters and captured African Americans from the North performed the prison’s menial tasks. From the beginning of its short history as a prison, Libby’s staff was inadequate and inefficient for the job. But until May 1863, this leadership managed to run Libby without incident. Come May 1863, the North and South stopped the exchange of prisoners, and Libby’s role as a prison evolved from a temporary hold for the exchange and transfer of prisoners to a facility permanently housing over one thousand Union officers.

Prisoners lived on the second and third floors of the prison, where Confederates had installed bare the bare necessities for living. The jailers used the first floor’s rooms for a kitchen, a hospital, and the headquarters for all of Richmond’s military prisoners. The basement of the prison housed a few cells, or “dungeons,” as some prisoners called them. New captives were greeted with cries of “Fresh fish!” from veteran prisoners, who varied in rank from second lieutenant to brigadier general. Libby’s prisoners did not maintain a structured military hierarchy, and discipline based on rank largely disappeared. Most prisoners were concerned solely with their own personal welfare.

Except for a morning roll call, the warden and prison staff largely left the prisoners to their own entertainment. Officers conducted and attended classes, played chess, carved bonework, and read books. Faith was significant to these soldiers, and Brigadier General Neal Dow, the highest-ranking inmate at Libby, gave several temperance lectures. Most of the younger men, however, acted with “vulgar rowdyism.” Prisoners and Libby’s leadership constantly battled over food, both its quality and quantity, and the prison’s cleanliness.

These conflicts culminated in prisoner’s escape attempts, some of which were successful. Colonel Thomas E. Rose, a leader an earlier plot to overpower the guards, discovered a way into an unused portion of Libby’s cellar. He and other restless inmates began digging exploratory tunnels, and they finally succeeded in burrowing under the prison to a yard across the street. On the night of February 9, 1864, 109 Union officers escaped through the tunnel. The next morning, Dick Turner pursued the escaped prisoners, while Thomas Turner discovered and sealed the tunnel. The Confederates recaptured Colonel Rose and 47 other fugitives. The other 61 prisoners had successfully escaped.

Until May 7, 1864, when Union prisoners were removed South, Libby’s leadership consistently threatened their prisoners with dire consequences against attempted escape. Almost a year later, in February 1865, prisoner exchanges between North and South resumed, and Libby again because a stop for Union POWs. But the evacuation of Richmond ended this exchange, and on the night of April 3, 1865, Thomas Turner burned most of his records and left Libby Prison to the invading Union Army.

Despite Turner’s destruction of his records, it is still possible to research those who were once imprisoned in Libby. The National Archives in Washington, D.C. house the following series of documents pertaining to those Union prisoners of war under Record Group 249, Records of the Commissary General of Prisoners, 1861-1905:

• Register of Captured Federal Officers Confined in Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, compiled 1886-1886, documenting the period 1862-1865. ARC ID: 616618/MLR No. NM68 132
• Registers of Federal Prisoners of War Confined in Confederate Military Prisons in Richmond, Virginia, compiled 1865-1865. ARC ID: 615457/MLR No. NM68 85
• Register of Federal Prisoners of War Sent to Libby Prison, Richmond, Virginia, compiled 1886-1886, documenting the period 05/1863-05/1863. ARC ID: 616619/MLR No. NM68 133
• Vouchers for Payments of Claims on Behalf of Former Federal Prisoners of War Held in Libby Prison, compiled 1865-1865. ARC ID: 615457/MLR No: NM68 85.
  

In order to view these records, you can contact the National Archives, Archives I Reference Section, Textual Archives Services Division (NWCT1R). This division can be reached via phone at 202-357-5385, fax at 202-357-5936, and email at archives1reference@nara.gov. Further information can be found at the National Archives’ website, www.archives.gov.

Sources:
Byrne, Frank L., “Libby Prison: A Study in Emotions,” The Journal of Southern History 24 (1958): 430-444.

Civil War Richmond, Inc. “Libby Prison.” Last modified 07/17/2008. http://www.mdgorman.com/Prisons/Libby/libby_prison.htm.

Photo:
“Richmond, Virginia. Libby prison, North side.” April, 1865. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

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