Captives in Gray

"Use this book along with James M. Gillispie's Andersonvilles of the North (CH, Aug'09, 46-6993) for balanced analysis of Confederate prisoners of war in federal hands during the Civil War. That war produced a seminal guide for proper treatment of POWs in the form of US Army General Orders No. 100 (24 April 1863), called the "Lieber Code." Bickering about application of these rules has obscured historical understanding of POW life in Union hands. Pickenpaugh shows that both sides lacked suitable personnel, food, and shelter for large catches of POWs produced by battles of unforeseen magnitude. Breakdown of parole and exchange of captives meant that thousands were held for months and years. Union commissary general of prisoners Colonel William Hoffman was an effective administrator known for humane interest in POW welfare limited by his tight control of funds. Camps formed little communities struggling against boredom with handicrafts, hobbies, sports, gambling, escape attempts, canteens, music, and sometimes hard liquor. Hospitals of mixed effectiveness were unable to reduce a 12 percent mortality rate caused in part by unsanitary conditions in camps. Diaries of lesser-rank soldiers reflect common life in POW camps. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries."
—CHOICE


"Roger Pickenpaugh has provided us with a reliable work and I highly recommend Captives in Gray to any student of the Civil War, whether professional or lay person. This is a well-written, deeply moving story and I believe will become the standard for the subject."
—Blue Gray Magazine

“An ambitious examination of almost all Union military prisons, [which] . . . addresses a specific historical category that has, to my knowledge, not yet been treated.”
—William Marvel, author of Lee’s Last Retreat: The Flight to Appomattox and Andersonville: The Last Depot

“This is a vivid description of conditions and events rarely described: the imprisonment of captured Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. Its many parallels to circumstances in Andersonville are especially intriguing.”
—Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States