Carried Into War
A Soldier's Life
Realities of War
The Home Front
Facing the Grim Reaper
Breaking the Blockade
The Last Campaigns
An Uncertain Future
Acknowledgments
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Eastern North Carolina
The Struggle for Victory
In Victory and In Defeat
Prison Life
By midwar, both armies ceased to honor the prisoner exchange system, and prisons on both sides experienced massive overcrowding. Most captured North Carolina Confederates went to prisons in Maryland, Delaware, New York, and Ohio. Once there, they often suffered from a lack of sufficient food, proper sanitation, and warm clothing for the winter months.
Carving Away Time
Bushels of rings, pins, buttons, chains, charms, and puzzles were patiently wrought out of such crude material.
—Sergeant Charles W. Rivenbark, Company C (Lillington Rifle Guards), First Regiment North Carolina State Troops, prisoner of war at Fort Delaware,
1863-1865
Most men in prison had little to occupy them. After eating their meager meals, they spent their time either sleeping or writing letters and reading books sent from loved ones. Many of them created trinkets and small works of art out of available materials such as beef bone and wood. A prisoner could spend hundreds of hours making a single piece of jewelry. The men often sent their creations to loved ones back home or gave them to fellow prisoners as symbols of friendship. Sometimes prisoners made items to sell or trade for food, clothing, and other necessities.
Nathan S. Moseley
A native of Warren County, Nathan S. Moseley enlisted in Company F (Warren Guards), Twelfth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Second Regiment North Carolina Volunteers) on April 18, 1861, at the age of twenty-one. Wounded at Gettysburg in 1863 and again at Spotsylvania in May 1864, Moseley was captured and incarcerated in several Federal prisons before being released on June 7, 1865.
M. C. Clay
Born in Lincoln County, M. C. Clay enlisted on July 4, 1862, in Company G, Fifty-seventh Regiment North Carolina Troops. Captured at Rappahannock Station on November 7, 1863, Clay remained at the Union prison at Point Lookout until he was exchanged in February or March 1865.
James W. Young
James W. Young enlisted in Company I (Cedar Fork Rifles), Sixth Regiment North Carolina State Troops in Alamance County on July 3, 1861. Captured at Winchester, Virginia, on September 19, 1864, Young was imprisoned at Point Lookout until paroled on February 27, 1865.
Samuel L. Maurice
Samuel L. Maurice was a butcher in Brunswick County when he enlisted in Confederate service on October 18, 1863. Maurice served as an artillerist in both Second Company H and Company I, Fortieth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Third Regiment North Carolina Artillery). He was captured at Fort Anderson in Brunswick County on February 19, 1865, and taken to Point Lookout.
George W. Davis
A merchant in Warren County before the war, George W. Davis enlisted in Company F (Warren Guards), Twelfth Regiment North Carolina Troops (Second Regiment North Carolina Volunteers) on April 18, 1861. At the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse in May 1864, Davis was captured by Federal soldiers and taken first to Point Lookout, then to Elmira Prison. Davis was released on June 11, 1865.
Thomas J. Latham
Thomas J. Latham enlisted in the army in Washington County on May 3, 1861, at the age of nineteen. He was captured at Plymouth, Washington County, on May 27, 1863, as a member of Company K (Clark Skirmishers), Forty-first Regiment North Carolina Troops (Third Regiment North Carolina Cavalry). After a time as a Federal prisoner, Latham was exchanged and returned to Confederate service. Later he deserted to Union forces and took the Federal Oath of Allegiance on February 24, 1865.
Joseph J. Davis
Born in Franklin County, where he was a lawyer before the war, Joseph J. Davis became a captain in Company G, Forty-seventh Regiment North Carolina Troops. He was captured at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and imprisoned first at Fort Delaware and then at Johnson's Island. He was exchanged on February 24, 1865.
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Rebel Thespians
COMEDY! MINSTRELSY! DANCING!
—Rebel Thespians playbill, Johnson's Island, 1864
In an effort to keep busy, pass time, and raise money for fellow prisoners in need of medical care and food, Confederate prisoners of war scripted, organized, and acted in plays presented within prison compounds. They invited fellow prisoners, guards, and nearby residents and collected an admission fee, which they used to purchase necessary supplies. In addition, prisoners organized Christian Relief Societies to aid soldiers unable to provide for themselves.
Prison Survival
I do not exaggerate when I say that it [Johnson's Island] is worse than a hog pen.
—Colonel Robert F. Webb, Sixth Regiment North Carolina State Troops,
February 25, 1864
Prisoners in both the North and the South commonly suffered from a lack of food, clothing, and medical care. They rarely received more than two meals a day, and these often lacked meats or vegetables. Prisoners trapped and ate rats to supplement their meager rations. Scurvy, malnutrition, dysentery, and other illnesses were common. Many Confederate prisoners arrived in their new Northern homes without warm clothing to survive the bitter winters. Sutlers, or merchants who sold needed goods, accepted only United States currency. Although captives could receive letters and funds from home, their Confederate money was of little use in Northern prisons.
George N. Cheek
A resident of Alamance County, George N. Cheek enlisted in Company F, Fifty-third Regiment North Carolina Troops on March 30, 1863, at the age of eighteen. He was captured at Fort Stedman in Virginia on March 25, 1865, and confined at Point Lookout until he was paroled on June 4, 1865, after taking the Federal Oath of Allegiance.
Thomas S. Kenan
A lawyer in Kenansville, Duplin County, before the war, Thomas S. Kenan organized the Duplin Rifles in 1859. He served as its captain and then as colonel of the Forty-third Regiment North Carolina Troops. Kenan was wounded at Gettysburg on July 3, 1863, and captured by Federal soldiers. He was interned, first at Johnson's Island and then at Point Lookout, until his release at the end of the war.
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