Cahaba Prison facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Cahaba PrisonCastle Morgan |
|
|---|---|
| Cahaba, Alabama, U.S.A. | |
"Castle Morgan, Cahaba, Alabama, 1863–65. Drawn from memory by the author." From Jesse Hawes' Cahaba, A Story of Captive Boys in Blue.
|
|
| Type | Confederate Prison Camp |
| Site history | |
| Built | 1863 |
| In use | 1863–1865 |
| Battles/wars | American Civil War |
Cahaba Prison, also known as Castle Morgan, was a prisoner of war camp in Dallas County, Alabama where the Confederacy held captive Union soldiers during the American Civil War. The prison was located in the small Alabama town of Cahaba, at the confluence of the Alabama and Cahaba rivers, not far from Selma. It suffered a serious flood in 1865. At the time, Cahaba was still the county seat, but that was moved to Selma in 1866. Cahaba Prison was known for having one of the lowest death rates of any Civil War prison camp mainly because of the humane treatment from the Confederate commandant.
History
The Confederate Army built a stockade around a large cotton warehouse near the Alabama River to prepare the site. Cahaba Prison was opened as such in June 1863. The commanding officer was Captain H. A. M. Henderson, a Methodist minister.
The prison made use of a brick cotton warehouse built in 1860 on Arch Street, above the banks of the Alabama River. This structure covered approximately 15,000 square feet (1,400 m2) and was surrounded by a larger wooden stockade. It was intended for approximately 500 prisoners, but its population had grown to 660 by August 1864. When Union General Ulysses S. Grant suspended the practice of prisoner exchange with the Confederacy, the numbers began to soar. By October 1864 the number of prisoners held here was 2,151; they had increased to more than 3,000 by March 1865.
Conditions
R. H. Whitfield, the prison surgeon, reported unhygienic conditions at the camp, citing the lack of a sanitary water supply. The warehouse building had one fireplace and 432 bunk spaces. Despite this, the death rate was about 2%, the lowest rate of any Civil War prison camp. Most Confederate camps averaged 15.5% and Union camps had mortality rates of more than 12%; most deaths were due to disease. Federal and Confederate records indicate that between 142 and 147 men died at Cahaba Prison.
The most outstanding health problem were constant outbreaks of flea infestations. Park historians believe the low death rate was mainly due to the humane treatment of the prisoners based on Capt. Henderson's Methodist beliefs. Tragically and sadly ironic, after having survived in the prisoner of war camp, once freed, many of these prisoners later died in the subsequent Sultana disaster; it sank while transporting them to the North.
