The "Immortal Six Hundred" and the Failure of the Civil War POW Exchange Process

by John F. Schmutz

Overview

Compounding the devastating tragedy of the Civil War was the failure of the warring parties to maintain a system for exchange of prisoners of war, rather than imprisoning combatants for the duration. This failure added at least 56,000 deaths to those accumulating on the battlefield and caused the untold suffering of many thousands more. This book focuses on 600 Confederate officers, made prisoners of war, who were dispatched to Charleston Harbor to act as human shields, and were subsequently imprisoned elsewhere and deliberately starved nearly to death. These actions were the result of the breakdown of the exchange cartel, as well as the "retaliation" policies promoted by the Secretary of War and the Lincoln administration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476691541
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	11/28/2024
Pages:	307
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x 0.62(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

John F. Schmutz, corporate attorney and U.S. Army veteran, lives in San Antonio, Texas.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Preface
One. The Captives Gather
Two. Prisoners at Fort Delaware
Three. The Inception of Retaliation
Four. Journey to Morris Island
Five. Prison on Morris Island
Six. Prisoner Exchanges and the Cartel
Seven. Later Prisoner Exchanges
Eight. Journey to and Confinement at Fort Pulaski Through 1864
Nine. Fort Pulaski through March 1865
Ten. Hilton Head Island Prison Camp
Eleven. A Sad Return to Fort Delaware
Twelve. Fort Delaware 1865
Appendix I: ­Post-Release Sagas
Appendix II: Civil War Prisons
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index