sketches from prison

8/6/2019 Sketches From Prison

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Sketches from Prison is published by the Maryland )[ ,Park Foundation. Inc .. a Maryland non-stock corporation (f(' It Iill 1983 for charitable, educational, and scien tific purl'iIincluding specifically the promotion of state park devclopllH I.conservation, and wildlife protection. It is a public charii \ . I.lljfrom Federal incom e tax under Section 'iO l(cX3) of t til' lilt II IRevenue Code. Its charter authorizes distributions for th. 1 > , , ,

of the M aryland S tate p;u k ',} uprovided , however , \ II Isuch distributions II II

made to organ .111"1 tqualify for exern pili III ISection ')0 I ((:

other private person ~poratiori's members l i t I t , , Idirectors serve without ( , , 1 1 1 1 II

C orrespondence m ay 11>1


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A CONFEDERATE ARTIST'SRECORD Of LIFE

AT POINT LOOKOUTPRISONER-Of-WAR CAMP1863-1865

MARYlAND STATE PARK FOUNDATION, INC.


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POINT LOOKOUT IN 1864This Civil War Lithograph shows the extent of the Federal

government complex at Point Lookout. The prison pen is in theupper right corner. The spoke-Likebuildings in the lower left arehospital wards for wounded and sick soldiers. The Potomac River


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is to the left, the Chesapeake Bay to the right. The wharf on theriver side is where Confederate prisoners from Virginia werelanded by steamboat. The building in the inset is the post head-quarters. Both prisoners and guards lived in large conical-shapedtents, which are visible toward the top o r the picture, both insideand outside the pen.


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Confederate captives under Union guard in Virginia, 1865.The men are bound for Point Lookout.

"Lee's Miserables," Point Loo ko ut: 1863. Victor Hugo's1862 novel LeJ Mise7'obles was p op ular reading in Lee's Armyof Northern Virginia. Many footweary and ragged Confederatestook to calling themselves . 'Lee's Miserables ," and some waglabeled this 1863 photograph of Confederates at Point Lookout"Les Miserables de Point Lookout ."


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iNTRODUCTIONAmerican folklore is rich in tradition about the horrors of

Civil War prison camps, particularly the infamous Andersonville.To be SUI!:!, the prisoners' lot was a grim one. Inadequacies o fdiet, shelter. clothing. sanitation and medical cafe all played theirparts in kill ing thousands of hapless soldiers whose misfortune itwas to langu ish in the prison camps of their enemies. Somehistorians attribute the deficiencies of the prisons to wililul abuseby both Union and Confederate authorities. Others attribute it tobureaucratic bungling and lack of resources. IProbably the truthlies somewhere between the [\\'0 extremes,

The Federal prison camp for. captured Confederates at PointLookout. Maryland. was - in terms of total numbers of prison-ers held - the largest of the prison camps in the North or South.Established after the Battle of Gettysburg 10 mid-1863, PointLookout processed about '52,000 prisoners between then and Julyof 186'), when the last inmates were released. (Twenty thousandwas the peak one-time prisoner population.) Federal authoritiesacknowledged 2,9')0 prisoner deaths, though one historian feelsthe number more correctly approaches 4,000.2 Numerous surviving diaries and letters by prisoners attest to the harsh condi-tions they endured. Yet much evidence has also survived of theindomitability of the human spirit at Point Lookout.

'The standard reference work on the general subject of Civil Warprisons is William B. Hesseltine. ed .. Civil War Prisons (KentState University Pres.">.Kent, Ohio, 1972).l1l1e most detailed studv ot the pnson at Point Lookout is Edwin W.Beitzell. Point Lookout Prison Camp lor Confederates (pub-lished by the author, Abell, MD, 1972). See p. 122 for a discus.sion of the death sra tis tics.


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One piece of evidence is the work of one - or several -prisoner artists. At least four collections of work by this illusiveman - or men - are known to exist. This publication is a fac-simile, in its original size, of one booklet of his - or their -work. It contains 23 scenes, most with dialogue, of prison lilepainted by someone who obviously had firsthand knowledge ofconditions at the Point Lookout prison. But who was he, and didhe paint the other collections?

Acquired from a rare book dealer inChicago by the MarylandState Park Foundation, Inc., the little booklet came from an estatein Pittsburgh. Its history between Pittsburgh and Point Lookout isobscure. The front cover of the booklet offers some clues to itsorigins. however. The cover is faintly inscribed by hand as follows:

Scenes and Sayings at Point Lookout Military PrisonM.S. Bernheim

17 Reg. Miss. Vol., June 8, 1865.

Civil War soldier service records at the U.S. NationalArchives in Washington, D.C. . as well as other historical docu-ments, reveal a probable identity for M.S. Bernheim and providesome interesting details about him. On May 15. 1861, onemonth after the Confederate bombardment of Fort Sumpter, a 19year old man named Morris S. Bernheim enlisted as a private inCompany G, 17th Mississippi Infantry. He was a native of Phila-delphia, Pennsylvania. and was the son of a German Jewishimmigrant family in the clothing trade. The rest of his famjlyrem ained in Philadelphia. We can only guess at the circum-stances of Morris' youthfu I migration to Mississippi and alle-


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'All of the paintings in this collection are reproduced in Beitzell,op. cit.

IIu giance to the Confederate cause. One line of speculation would be

this: In the pre-war period, northern clothing establishmentsprovided large quantities of slave clothing to southern plantersand often sent agents south to represent the firms' interests.Young Morris could have been sent to Mississippi by his familyfor that purpose. At any rate, a year after enlisting, he was pro-moted to quartermaster sergeant for his regiment, perhapsbecause o[ his presumed familiarity with the clothing trade. Theonly other remarkable thing in his service record, besides his cap-ture, is a note that he was courtmartialed and docked threemonths pay in 1864 for an unspecified offense. He was capturedon March 5, 1865, near Fredericksburg, Virginia, and sent loPoint Lookout. His stay at the Point was mercifully short. OnJune 6, his sister, Amelia, and their father. Simon, visited himfrom Philadelphia. He was released the following day, one daybefore the date inscribed on his sketchbook.

Following the war, Morris apparently returned to Mississippi.Though he died InPhiladelphia in 1879 and is buried with othermembers of his family in the Mt. Sinai Cemetery, his obituarylisted his residence as Holly Springs, Mississippi. He apparentlynever married.

Since Bernheim's name and unit appear on the cover of thebooklet reproduced here, the booklet's previous owners haveassumed him to have been the artist. But a careful reading of thecover inscription supports no assumption beyond his being theone-time owner.

Indeed, there is It well-known and previously published col-lection of nearly identical artwork - same subject matter, samescenes, same artistic style. same handwriting - in the holdingsof the Maryland Historical Society.' This collection consists of 44

I II I


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paintings. larger and more precisely drafted than Bernheim's,and bound in a fancier book. but doubtless painted by the sameartist. The cover of the Society's collection, which appears to bea post-war replacement binding, is stamped in gold leaf with thename M.H. Church. More significantly, however, the title pageis elaborately inscribed by hand as follows:

TRUESKETCHES and SAYINGSOFREBEL CHARACTERS

IN THEPoint Lookout Prison Maryland

BYJOHN].OMENHAUSSER

(Prisoner of War)1&)'5.Two new name. M.H. Church and John J. Ornenhausser,

but unmistakably the same style art as in Bernheim's booklet. Sowho were Church and Omenhausser? Again. a search of soldiers'service records and other documents provided answers.

M.H. Church was probably a New Yorker named Morris H.Church. a tobacconist in private life who served with the rank oflieutenant, then captain, in the l Ztfi and 122nd New YorkInfantry regiments. Church saw considerable combat with theUnion's Army of the Potomac until being wounded in the thigbat Fredericksburg, Virginia, during the Battle of Chancellorsvillein May, 1863. After a long and troubled convalescence, he wasfinally declared unfit for further combat duty and assigned to theVeteran Reserve Corps, a branch of the Union army made up ofpermanently injured soldiers who could be used for light dutysuch as guarding prisoners of war. Indeed Church was assigned


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to a couple of stints at Point Lookout, between other missionshere and there in the North. He died in 1889 in Boston. Massa-chusetts. BUl was he the artist? Probably not, in view of the factthat the all-important word "by" appears before Ornenhaussersname rather than Church's.

Ornenhausser proved easy to identify as well A native ofAustria, he was a 30 year old resident of Richmond, Virginia,when he enlisted as a private in Company A. 46th VirgimaInfantry. on April 21. 1861. Except for a brief period when hewas on parole after being captured by the Yankees at RoanokeIsland in lR62, Pvc Ornenhausser served with his unit untilJune 15, 1864. when he was captured a second time. near Peters-burg, Virginia. Prisoner parole and exchange were rarer things atthis point in the war than they had been earlier. and Pvt.Omenhaus se r was bound now for nearly a year's captivity atPoint lookout The official records are silent on the nature ofOmen haussers Imprisonment. except for a letter sent to himdated June 11, 186'5. Since he had been released two days earlier,the letter ended lip in a son of dead letter file and thus has sur-vived at the U.S. National Archives. It is a thoroughly unremarkable news-from-home sort at note signed ., your devoted Annie .' ,In her letter. Annie acknowledged a portrait photograph thatOmenhausser had sent her from prison There were severalphotographers at Point Lookou t who took portraits of Yankees orConfederates who could afford to pay. The face that Omen-hausser could afford to pay indicates he probably had outsidesources of support during his imprisonment, as did manyprisoners. Thus might he have been able to acquire brushes, ink,pigments and stationery. And no doubt the pictures he may havemade could be sold or bartered. A year after his release,Ornenhausser marned 26-year-old Annie and settled down todomestic life in Richmond. The couple had two daughters andOrnenhausser supported his family as a candy maker. He died in


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lR77 of intestinal cancer and was buried in Shockoe Cemetery inRichmond. Annie lived another 40 years. U.S. Census Recordsindicate that she was illiterate, so someone else must have pennedher 1865 letter to John, as it is written in a refined hand withcorrect spelling and punctuation.

There is yet a fourth f l y in the ointment. The library ofAllegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania, has a notebook of52 paintings from the prison ,ll Po in t Lookou t. 4 Again, the sub-ject matter, dialogue. handwriting and artistic style match theBernheim and Church-Omenhausser sketchbooks. But the nameassociated with this booklet is John R. Conner. Conner's bookletitself is identical in size, materials and construction toBernheim's, and the paintings are not as elaborate as those in theChurch-Omenhausser sketchbook. The front cover has the nameJ . R . Conner penciled on it and the notation "Prisoner of WarPoint lookout Maryland." There is additional writing, but it isillegible. In one of the pictures, a version of the prisoner-selling-fans-to-officer vignette found in at least three of the sketchbooks,the prisoner is identified as John R. Conner.

Allegheny College got Conner's booklet from a womanwhose grandfather, Stephen R. Clark, was colonel of the 13thOhio Cavalry. Clark's regiment did post-war occupation duty inVirginia and he is thought to have obtained the sketchbook then,Though Conner has been presumed to be the artist for thissketchbook, a careful reading of the cover inscription supports noassump t ion beyond his being the original ow ner, as is th e casewith Bernheim's cover inscription.

Since Cooner's sketchbook gives no unit affiliation for theman, identifying him in official records proved a bit tricky; as can

4 S i x of the drawings in this collection appeared under the title.. A Portfolio of Cartoons by a Confederate Prisoner" in CivilWar Illustrated, June 1966, pp. 32-33.


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be imagined, many men of his name served in the Confederatearmy. But only one of them was ever a prisoner at PointLookout, Pvt . John R. Connor (a lso spelled Conner) of Clutter'sVirginia Battery of Artillery. He was captured in Pennsylvaniaright alter the Battle of Gettysburg and went first to the Unionprison at Fort Delaware, which was located on an island in theDelaware River. Eventually he was transferred to Point Lookout.It is unclear exactly how long he stayed there. but in February]865 he was listed as a paroled prisoner in Richmond. Apparentlyhe had taken the oath of allegiance to the U.S. and had beenreleased. Conner's service record reveals one other interestingfact about him, he signed his name with an "X", which in-dicates he was illiterate. If he was the artist of any of the sketch-books, then someone else lettered the dialogue for him.

In 1989, a fourth sketchbook surfaced in the gallery of aMassachusetts art dealer. It was subsequently purchased by theUniversity of Maryland library. Though possessed of a murkyhistory, its artwork is unmistakably identical to the three othersurviving sketchbooks, and it contains the largest single collectionof the mystery artist's work, 62 paintings. Most are duplicates ofthe stock scenes in the other collections. Some vignettes, however.are unique. including one which offers another clue to the artist'sidentity. In this scene, a black Yankee soldier complains of beingcheated out of change by a Confederate who had sold him tobacco.Three other rebels stand around kibitzing. One of them remarks,"John ought to be here, to draw this in his book." John ].Omenhausser? John R. Conner?This particular sketchbook is said to have originally be-longed to an unnamed North Carolina drummer boy who, afterhis release rom Point Lookout, gave or sold it to an unnamedbishop in Richmond. The bishop later moved to Boston. and thesketchbook came out of the estate of a deceased descendant ofhis. On the backs of several of the drawings is an unsigned, un-finished and rambling handwritten essay on Southern patriotism.


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Beside these four existing collections of Point Lookoutprison artwork, there is evidence of another collection thatexisted earlier in this century. but now cannot be located. In1924, 3 man in New York offered to sell to the Maryland His-torical Society a collection of 24 ., water colors made by aprisoner-at Pt Lookout Md. during the Civil War." The sellersta ted that the paintings ' 'were purchased by a re la tive of mineand have been in the family since that time." He furthermoredescribed the paintings as measuring seven inches by nine inchesand mounted on mats 14 inches by 20 inches. He sent photo-copies o f several of his paintings to the Socie ty. and the Societylater returned them to him. The two parries were unable to agreeon a price and negotiations ceased abruptly. This happened about20 years before the Church-Ornenhausser collection surfaced andwas purchased by [he Society. When the Society did purchase theChurch-Ornenha usscr collection, the Society's then-director Iwho had not been a party to the 19205 negotiations. noted that it"i~ossible these pictures [the ones offered in J924J are by theartist of the set we have just bought."

In 1961, after several of the Church-Ornenhausser paintingshad been published in a number of sources, a woman from NewYork contacted the Society to state that there was a doubtlesssimilarity between the published paintings attributed to John J .Omenhausser and a "collection of twenty-four cartoon typew ate r co lo r sketches made by a Confederate prisoner at PointLookout" which she had inherited from her father in !9'13. Shestated that her paintings had originally been in an album "butwere la ter moun ted separately for exhibit ion purposes." She Saidof the cartoons that her father "never knew the artist's name.They are unsigned." Of her paintings, and the publishedOrnenhausser paintings. she concluded' 'the subject matter is thesame, but some of the details are different I think anyone willagree they are by the same ani~t.' She sent photocopies to the


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Society for its opinion. The Society, noting that her originalswere very nearly the size of the Ornenhausser paintings, specu-lated "that the two groups of pictures were once together hutbecame separated." The Society returned her photocopies andthe correspondence ended. Efforts in 1987 to contact the womanproved fruitless.

It seems probable that the 1924 and 1961 mcidents involvedthe same set of paintings, both parties to lite 1961 correspon-dence being unaware of the 1924 negotiations. And though thesepaintings cannot now be traced, it is safe to conclude they repre-sent a fifth collection of work by the mystery artist who paintedthe four others.

And who was that mystery artist? Probably John J .Omenhausser.

Of the four n am e s asso cia te d with th e su rv iv in g collections ofprison artwork, Morris S. Bernheim, Morris H. Church, J ohn ].Omenhausser and John R. Conner, only John J . Omeahausser'sname appears in a context dearly identifying him as the artist ofat least one of the collections, the one now owned by theMaryland Historical Society. And the recently discovered sketch-book from Massachusetts gives the artist's first Dame as John.Moreover there 1 compelling circumstantial evidence toeliminate th e other three.

Bernheim was imprisoned for a very short tune, less thanthree months, at the very end of the war. He is not likely to havebeen in the prison long enough to have established himself as anartist with all the necessary paraphernalia,

Church was a Union officer who spent the last months ofthe war busily performing staff duties outside the prison com-pound. He is therefore unli kely to have had either the insider'sintimate knowledge of life inside the pen or the time necessary toproduce, at the least. the 201 known renderings. Moreover, thestory of prison life revealed in the drawings IS very definitely told


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from a prisoner's point of view, not the point of view ef a Yankeegarrison officer.Conner was illiterate and thus unable to pen the extensivedialogue in the renderings.

Finally, a diary reference by another prisoner, datedDecembe r 9, 1864, would seem to rule out Bernheim. In thisreference, the prisoner reported being shown' 'some very amus-ing caricatures, or cartoons, depicting the humorous side ofprison life.' Unfortunately, the diarist did not record the artist'sname. And we cannot even be certain that the cartoons referredto were by the same artist whose work is under discussion here.It is significant to note. however, that, at the time of the diary eo-try. Bernheim would not be at Point Lookout for another threemonths. In fact, on December 9, Ornenhausse r was the only oneof the three prisoners positively known to be at the prison;Conner may well have been paroled by then.The facts and circumstances surrounding the four sketch-books suggest that John J . Ornenhausser was the artist for allfour. and probably for many more that have not come to light. orhave not even survived. As is apparent in the surviving sketch-books. impoverished prisoners at Point lookout capitalized onwhatever manual skills they may have possessed to produce han-dicraft items for barter or sale, and that Union officers, with theircomparatively high pay, were particularly catered to by prisonerentrepreneurs. Ornenhausser, with his rudimentary artistic skills,probably produced numerous collections of his cartoon views forsale or trade to other prisoners or to his Yankee guards. The ex-tra effort that he put into the more elaborate renderings he didfor Capt. Church. as opposed to those he did for prisoners Bern-heim, Conner. a nd the North Carolina drummer boy, probablyreflect Church's ability to offer greater compensation.

Though he certainly was not a professional artist, Omen-hausser had some basic abilitv as a draftsman. Many of his draw-


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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ings show adeptness at rendering linear perspective and conveyinga sense of depth. As is the usual case with naive or folk artists, heshows particular preoccupation with detail. Indeed, severalrenderings which depict steamboats 00 distant horizons displayan unusual knowledge of detail of such vessels . Perhaps Omen-hausser was unusually familiar with them.

As historical documents, Omenhausser 's work is of specificsignificance as a detailed record of life within Point Lookoutprison. It is of general significance lIS a sort of artistic paean tothe indomitability of the human spirit in the face of extremediversity:

"Art is the stored honey of the human soul, gathered onwings of misery and travail," (Theodore Dreiser, Art, Life ariaAmenaa}.

The editor gratefully acknowledges the assistance of thefollowing people and organizations in the preparation of thispublication: th e Maryland State Park Foundation, Inc., incooperation with the Thomas F. and Clementine L. MullanFoundation, Inc., for purchasing the original Bernheim sketch-book and to th e Park Foundation for underwriting its publication;Donald E. MacLauchlan and James E. Mallow of the MarylandForest, Park and Wildl i fe Service for recommending the purchaseand supporting the publication; Marie V. Melchiori and herassociates for extens ive research into the lives of the four menassociated with three of the surviving sketchbooks; DanielW einbe rg o f the Abraham Lincoln Books tore in Chicago for hiscooperation in the acquisition of the Bernheim sketchbook and


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for his persona] perspectives on the whole mystery; the staff ofthe Maryland State Archives. Hall of Records. for curating andphotographing the Bernheim Sketchbook; Michael P. Musick ofthe U.S. National Archives for alerting me to the existence of theConner and Bernheim sketchbooks and for his personal perspec-trves on all the sketchbooks; the staH of the Maryland HistoricalSocie ty for access to th e C h urc h-Ome nh au sse r sketchbook andattendant documents, and particularly to Jennifer Goldsboroughof the Society for her personal perspectives on the artisticqualities of the sketchbooks; Ann M. Petrone of Skinner lnc. inBoston. Massachusetts, for sharing information about the drum-mer boy's sketchbook; Josephine Thoms of the Capital ProgramsAdministration. Maryland Department of Natural Resources. fordesign of this publication; Debbie Fischer of the Capital ProgramsAdministration lOT patiently typing the many drafts of the manu-script; and Gerald Sword of the Mary land Forest, Park andWildlife Service for his continuing support of historical researchon Point Lookout prison.

Ross M. KimmelSupervisor. Cultural ResourcesManagementCapital Programs AdministrationDepartment of Natural ResourcesState of MarylandM ay 25, 191192012 Indu trial DriveAnnapolis. Maryland 21401


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,Entrance to the Pr-ison Camp

The prison compound occupied 23 acres of land and wasenclosed i . > y a 11l::bot hfgh fcnte o f vertical boards. This pictureshows the main gate, which s in th e west end of the south wal lof the rrapez.()idalptlsOn pen. ~c artist neglected to show thecn tW$U~which ~allDed th~out..s jd e o f the wall, near the top . Thecatwa\!


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Federal Officer h.uying fansTo raise money Foepurchase of supplemental food and other

necessities, and to wile away hours of idleness. dexterousprisoners made all sorts of handicraft items to sell to their guards.to each other. or to anyone with money. This sketchbook - andthe others - are no doubt examples of such handiwork.


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Hot Coffee Peddlers

/ r e / . / I " " . , 1 * " t,?_~1t. 1 1 . ~ ~ - ' I N ' "mjk ~ IM;& r , A I m P ~stIi'rkJVUB 7 : - -

l J . , - " , . & r~ 1 I . J ' t ' n u 1 , - i l f ' f c R " " 7 ~PU ~l I f * ? /H I I .

A l ively system of barter thrived among the prisoners. Heretw o e nte rp risin g Confederates h ave con coc ted coffee from stalebread crusts. They offer it fo r one cracker o f hardtack per cup .Hardtack was the ubiquitous bread ration of Civi l War soldiers,A p iece of hardtack looked like a bloa ted vers ion of a modernsoda cracker. Usually so stale as to be brick hard . "tacks" w ereoften infested with weevi ls which had to be tapped out before the"tack" w as eaten.


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: . ! ? / . ~4-J,M., ' -P / J ~ P " . w ~ cnry .~ ~p- ~,;,A4~ .J t f ' & M,..~r:,,,;-~JI~J~.u ~"'~,t1?'"~Ui1 ,l!fti ,;, ~ . , . . r v e ~p,-,., ~llIk~fh .. v A , , ; , IkJtfJl1, WtJNPt.P4 I t I t 11;;'71 l-d .?- At;-~ sPiiz/WII$ .. 6W~~- L~jl-/l-IVJ ..1'"_Itt :I.4r:

Molasses CandyDespite severe privation, resourceful prisoners could come

up with a surp is ing variety of luxuries. The center figure in thisdrawing has scraped together the wherewithal 10 make molassescandy sufficiently cloying to satisfy the sweet tooth of two prison'ers: Notice the extent to which Confederate money was inflatedov r U.S. currencies. A piece of candy cost five ents in Federalmoney but two dollars in Confederate. John J . Omenhausser waa candy-maker in civilian life, The collection of artwork thatbears his name also has a version of this picture. This helps builda circumstantial case that Omenhausser was the true artist.


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If.", M _ # ' l : . ~ ~ JR &-c_J/hU J ( " I W n ~ ~ r:~"",.~~a ';.77 . 6 : ; ; 1 ft-~ ~ wu ~.Ztfl!?-je:l~~~kej~~ ~4-/izAt'n= ~~/4 k{/I# . cJ J . V J i LJ"! i'''-4 ...1~-j'7J'-i/ht,L~_,p;- fDUIl.

Lemonade PeddlersLemonade was a popular drink by the time of the Civil War.

It was even available as a powdered mix. Here a pennilessprisoner feigns illness to con a drink (rom the hardheartedvendor, who refuses to be moved ,


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/1/. IfIJu / / i u t f l : A l - o r/,,/1., f :in /~ ;f,J-/ ' lJ41JL/ cAJ I ' J h I7"i,J ' ~ 1 I ~ e ~ ~ ' .II ;3. #t""...r //;- j 6 P t : . e t /{ jd-/t.-tJ 4,f-.ry? . ) ;eJof qndhPt:$t't'~/,...../'~ I . " t I 1 9 . , . - - ; -

I J. ; z t 1 7 ' f f 1~- " , I ' ;t~-... J . . '"7 ' ' ' 'Mud e W f . k r ; / tQ/~ I ) . , J. s s m ~~fkf'k r &~ "".u...

,Fritters and Pie Stand ,A prisoner who had money could live comparatively com-

fortably, if the testimony of the left-hand figure in this view is tobe believed. The ragged condition of the Confederates is con-firmed by reports of Union authorities that the prisoners were"ragged, dirty, and thinly dad." Doubtless many of them ar-rived at the camp in that condition. however, Union authoritiedid little to alleviate the misery.


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Tobacco Stand

. /. /!J .; .b , 'I'm"UJ1"f/~lopqrL(" ",~r/'#wtL,.Vr'$,. jll.lif ~ ;1 ; ~1'1-~ hqnr fe . l "nUt,1f

k , e . &rrs it//j ~~9--~ tj I / U U {I.,"MI'r/Ir/~ifW hnnP);;J'. 1

Though they were often destitute of food and clothing, Con-federa tes usually were able to lay their hands on good tobaccowhich could be traded for food, in this case II hardtack that has"no t been handled much." a testimony to hardtack's durabil i ty .


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A1 / . M J & r . ! " U I Y r r a n . 1 h ' " "Juds.It e . ; l f um tnf'"ti: jlllz kJ& i 7 r 4 h , P v t . J " ? " _ ~ r 7 1 t N ( .f" e y jN~h- /;- ku f lt ~ ;4I,q(7)t__ lfi,t-~/I


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/i . . 4 R d y Vt:r i tr t"Om< I t - ( ' f h ' } j P i " J ' U tkJ' f ) 'U:- t - ; ; / .h~J, ~/"if"{.


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Capt. BarnesA prisoner could get his freedom if he took the oath of alle-

giance to the United States and renounced service in the Con-federate military Many oath takers had also to agree to serve inthe Federal army fighting Ind ians in the west. Such erstwhileConfederates were known as "galvanized Yankees," alter therecently developed process 01 galvanizing iron to prevent rust.Comparatively few Confederates were willing to take the oath, oras they put it swallow the pill," preferring to live on in miserythan to compromise their principles. Barnes was the assistantprovost marshal at the camp and was well-liked by the prisoners.


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Federal authorities issued rations, sometimes cooked.through five large frame cookhouses located along the west wallof the compound. The fare was pretty meager. One prisonerrecorded in his diary that his day's rations consisted of one mallloaf of bread , tw o ounces o f m eat. and a ha lf-p in t o f carro t soup ."Isn't it shameful!" he wailed.

Prisoners' Cookhouse

Prison Post Office /following page)The prisoners were permi t ted to send and receive letters.

Occasionally their friends on the outside were able to send themf O Q d c lo th ing . and money. Everything going in and out was sub-ject [0 censorship and, i f deemed inappropriate, seizure. A letterfrom home and loved ones could be as great a relief tothe spiritas food was to the body. A diarist lamented. "Why is it that Icanno t hear from hom e," and la te r, w hen he d id , re jo iced , "0,it did liU my heart w ith de ligh t to hear from Virginia." .


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/ . . s ; . ~ 1Jn;f,;;Ji 'R?~C!~I t : , - ' 1 1 lrozti; ,trIA}d f . j J 7 6 1 t ~VCIP < ! ' m d l ; - -~''Y. fll'*/()?Iti:k IiJ ' a " , " . . , ;/;7 tfi-k, IT 1 1 ' ."}/~#d~ .) ! t ; / , y - Z ! J / r V r .!#.q . I i4oi~,,/~) Z ~ O 1 l t lg ; ; ' J y , ' a r c 1 t f 1 ' l U 7 t 'J l 7 - f f l I fQ~~s . Zir .fun: ~an ..... r:7i;;,j ~.reE? " "1r / & v i u (J1t71;;~,/g~661:-

Cooked CrabsConfederates from the interior of Dixie, raised on sowbelly

and cornbread, found the bounty of the Chesapeake Ba-ynovel.The prisoners were allowed to supplement their rations byfishing, clarnrnipg, and crabbing.


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ea>PrI(~ lJ ' .; ! J , - . ; ,1 it L I JI?(.


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{ ,

7 J . f a r n l - /J4 ,Ju f g~,.".L-;H ..I,~/-.JtL


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Night SceneIronically, Union authorities sent several regiments of black

soldiers, most of them liberated slaves, to guard the prisoners.The reaction among the Confederates was. predictably, outrage.Exclaimed one diarist, "was there ever such a thing in civilizedwarfare]" Some of the' blacks savored the opportunity to lordtheir newly found authority over their former masters. Otherswere embarrassed. A prisoner diarist recorded, 'Some are stillrespectful, and call their young owners 'master,' and declarethey were fo;ced to enlist."


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Night SceneThe prisoner in this scene wants to use "the boxes:' or

latrine. The boxes were often just that, sand filled containers intowhich the prisoners relieved themselves. Periodically the sandwould be changed. Such poor practices of hygiene of course con-rributed to the si kness and death of many prisoners.


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Nj~ht Scene,Double QuickingBy popping priming caps in an unloaded revolver at close

range, the guard could easily singe the bare feel of the dancingprisoners, Relauons between black guards ami while prisonersw ere not a l,w a}ts so rancorous. O ne account tells o f a black guardrecognizing his former master among the prisoners and givinghim $10.00.


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. 1Steam Engine

Jdle minds can turn creative. This picture celebrates a work-ing steam engine contrived out of junk by an ingenious prisoner.Such vignettes highlight the central lesson of the Point Lookoutprison. Despite horrible conditions. deprivation. and suppressionof personal freedom, the human spirit can, and does, triumph,


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Copy r i gh t 1~ M dtyland State Park Fo un da tio n, Int,and the Stolle o f M aryland . Departm en t o f tjaturalResources. A ll righ ts rl'serVt~. No part o f tl't is bookmay be f ep rOO~ in any /ofm or by any electronic orm echan ical m eans, indud ing in fo rm ation s r o l g ! ; ' andrereieval-deekes or sys tems. without prior written per-mission ffllm" the Marybmd State Park Foundation,Inc ., and the S ta te o f Mary l and D ep artm en t o f N atu ralResoVfce;, excep t that brie f passages m ay be quotedfu r rev iews. FIt~t printing. Prin ted in U.S .A.


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sketches from prison

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