Salisbury Prison

Recently I was loaned a small book published in 1912. It is a blue color hard bound, titled 'Pennsylvania at Salisbury North Carolina'. Salisbury is located in Rowan County.

Here in the 1860's was a very famous prison for the South to hold the Northern soldiers who were taken prisoner. This book was written, published and given to all who survived the terrible hardships and lived to return on November 16, 1910 to attend the dedication of a marble memorial erected by the State of Pennsylvania in the National Cemetery in memory of the soldiers of this State who died while confined in the prison from 1861 to 1865. The memorial cost $15,000. -

There were 12,112 soldiers of the Union Army who died here in prison. They were buried in 18 trenches. In this number were at least 2,457 Pennsylvanians.

No burial record was found of those who died nor is there a record to mark each grave. The hospital did have a record of those who died in the hospital. There are 3,504 names in that record.

All surviving soldiers were invited to attend this dedication service. The State of Pennsylvania provided free transportation but each man was responsible for his 'subsistence'. A special train was made up at Harrisburg. In it were the Governor (Honorable Edwin S. Stuart) and his staff, members of the Commission and survivors. They left the Harrisburg station at 5:25 P.M. on November 15 and arrived at Salisbury at 9:30 A.M. the following day. The return trip began at 9 P.M. on the 16th and arrived back at Harrisburg at 12:30 P.M.

Among the several hundred persons who attended this service was only one member from Bedford County. He was W.B. Filler of Rainsburg. He had been a sergeant in Company I, 22nd Regiment. Many others from Somerset, Cambria, Blair, Huntingdon and Fulton counties were in the group who went to Salisbury. Many dignitaries from North Carolina also attended the ceremonies.

Most of the speakers gave long and heart rendering speeches which a few of them knew how to effectively give to arouse their listeners. One of the speakers reviewed some of the tortures these men were subjected to. The area of five acres was surrounded by a board fence. The prison ranked almost equally with Andersonville in its number of victims of war. Water was brought from a distance of a half mile in barrels. Some of the men slept on top of the ground. Others, by means of a knife and part of a canteen, dug holes in the ground about two feet square to a depth of about five feet and then five feet long. Many slept here night and day. Their food consisted of corn meal. Sometimes mixed with ground corn cobs. Occasionally they were given about three spoonfuls of molasses once a month.

One of the most deplorable conditions was the lack of care and provisions for the sick and wounded. The dead were gathered out of the buildings, tents and hospital and deposited in what they called 'dead house'. Every morning there were sometimes as many as sixty bodies. From here they were taken by cart to a field about a half mile away and buried in trenches. The speaker mentioned that there was no day in the week or hour of the day that the cart was not seen carrying the lifeless bodies to their long resting place. The bodies were piled upon one another like animal carcasses. The bodies were so covered with dirt and filth that it was almost impossible to identify their color.

Complaints reached the Secretary of War at Raleigh concerning the ill treatment of the prisoners and several inspections were made. Reports were made that the past quartermaster appeared to be lacking in energy in carrying out his duties. The rebel guards seemed to enjoy the privilege of cruelty to the prisoners. The guards were fully and warmly clothed as well as fed, while their prisoners were never given clothing or blankets nor food which had been sent for them by the Christians Commission of the North and a few local church groups in the area. The guards helped themselves to these supplies and even paraded before the prisoners for them to see even the Official stamp of the U.S. or the commission.

In the book are copies of letters written by the officer who inspected this prison. In his reports he officially requested many changes, not only of the need to change of relocating the prison but the change of personnel as well as for medical supplies. In his report dated February 17, 1865, he listed the surgeon-in-charge statistics. There were a total of 1,007 deaths in January and in the first thirteen days of February 275 out of a total of 5,500 prisoners. Also, on October 5, 1864, a total of 10,321 prisoners was received and according to the surgeons report, 2,918 had died. The prisoners appeared to have died more from exposure and exhaustion than from actual disease.

The inspector's report also showed no proper system of discipline or police. The excuse by the Major was the want of tools and supplies. When the inspector made his recommendations, particularly, the use of wooden scrapers and brooms and wheelbarrows, the answer was a promise to carry out these suggestions.

We noted, however, in the end of his report that he waited two months for these evils to be remedied, but he had no authority over these officers and therefore powerless to do any thing about it. In his report he requested he be relieved of these duties.

The conclusion of this report seemed to show that the confederacy had sufficient number of inspections and prison inspectors as the reports submitted told about the condition and treatment of prisoners to the various officers of the War Department, but they were passed on from one office to another office until they ended up in an. Out of sight pigeon hole remained there for posterity to read or be destroyed and thus the world would never know the truth of what really happened except the stories that came from the prisoners who were fortunate to live through the horrors of War.

How many men and boys from Bedford County died in this prison will never be known.