ALGENEVA-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: Salisbury
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 12:02:50 EDT

When Gov. Henry T. Clark of North Carolina shopped for a new prison camp, the
abandoned cotton factory in downtown Salisbury seemed like a good deal. It
was on a rail line, facilitating prisoner movement, and the brick factory and
accompanying wooden boarding houses were deemed sufficient for the
anticipated 2,000 inmates. Wells provided fresh water, and the local
countryside was rich in produce, making provisioning easy.

Most important, the price was right. The factory's owner wanted only $15,000
for the 11 acre complex, which included $500 worth of machinery. He was also
willing to accept payment in Confederate bonds. And while $2,000 was needed
for iron bars and other security measures, Clark was assured that the prison
could be resold after the war for $30,000 to $50,000, bringing a tidy profit.
So on November 2, 1861, the Confederate government purchased the complex.

Surrounded by a simple board fence, Salisbury Prison promised to be a
comfortable detention center for deserters, spies, and Southern citizens
suspected of disloyalty. Mid December 1861 brought the first Union prisoners,
and by March 1862 Salisbury housed a total of 1,500 prisoners. Conditions
were good until late 1863. Food and room were plentiful, and the prisoners
even formed baseball teams. Only one death was reported.

As the Union army advanced, more and more Northern prisoners were transferred
to Salisbury from occupied territories. The prison's capacity of 2,000 was
reached early in 1864. By October 1864, over 10,000 men were crowded into
tents, mud huts, and even holes in the ground, as the prison buildings were
increasingly used as hospitals. The Confederate government couldn't afford
the bills. Salisbury's acreage became a quagmire, with no stream running
through the camp to carry away waste, sanitation was a nightmare, and the
wells became fouled.

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