ebooks The Definitive Journals of Lewis Clark; Volume 2 of the Nebraska Edition: From the Ohio to the Vermillion by Meriwether Lewis; William Clark in History

Description

The holding of prisoners of war has always been both a political and a military enterprise; yet the military prisons of the Civil War; which held more than four hundred thousand soldiers and caused the deaths of fifty-six thousand men; have been nearly forgotten. Now Lonnie R. Speer has brought to life the least-known men in the great struggle between the Union and the Confederacy; using their own words and observations as they endured a true “hell on earth.” Drawing on scores of previously unpublished firsthand accounts; Portals to Hell presents the prisoners’ experiences in great detail and from an impartial perspective. The first comprehensive study of all major prisons of both the North and the South; this chronicle analyzes the many complexities of the relationships among prisoners; guards; commandants; and government leaders.