Forgive me for being geeked out today. History has been a passion of mine since I was in middle school. (No need to tell you all exactly how many years ago that was. Suffice to say,
my youngest child is now in middle school.) But not just history,
local history. And
Civil War history. It was like the perfect triumvirate of awesome yesterday when my family and I attended a living history event commemorating the Civil War prison camp's
150th anniversary along the banks of the
Chemung River.
A few quick facts about
Elmira Prison Camp:
- Called Hellmira by the Confederates imprisoned there.
- From May 3, 1864 when barracks #3 were converted to house prisoners to July 1665 when the last prisoners were mustered out, 24 % of its population died.
- disease, starvation, putrid water supply, exposure to extreme weather, and overcrowding are among causes of high death rate.
- Highest death rate of any camp, North or South--even than Andersonville.
- built to house 5,000 men, population swelled to 10,000 within weeks.
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| bridge to Foster's Island--me in background |
With this dramatic history, it seemed especially meaningful yesterday as the Chemung Living History Association came together with reenactors to present the event on Foster Pond near the actual campgrounds.
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| fixin' tater soup |
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| inspecting the troops before battle |
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| Union soldiers fire first shots |
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| Virginia Infantry answer the Union volley |
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| Chaplain praying for dying soldier |
Posts
Interesting. I would've greed out too.
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming by, Tina! It was definitely one of those awesome moments.
DeleteLove this post, Kathy! So interesting. Sounds like you had a fun day. Wish I could have joined you. Great pictures, too!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Debbie Lynne. I would have LOVED it if you could have been here. We bought Lucas a little Yankee kepi hat and it looked adorable on him. :)
DeleteShould I get Kase a confederate hat and they can get their pictures taken together? LOL
Deleteyes! That would be so awesome! :D
DeleteI never heard a thing about this. Not that I would have been able to go, but I'm not THAT far away. Thanks for sharing, Kathy!
ReplyDeleteSorry, Deb. I thought I mentioned it on one of your posts about a month ago, but I may not have tagged you to make sure you saw it. They had it today, too, but I didn't go. It was pretty cool.
DeleteWonderful post, Kathy. I'm sure it was exciting to view the re-enactor's in uniform after all the research you've done on the prison. Enjoyed the photos.
ReplyDeleteI found out that a committee is trying to raise funds to build a replica of one of the buildings on the site as a tangible and visual memorial to the camp. Pretty cool!
DeleteHello,
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Goodness, I wish I had seen this when you first wrote it last year. I wrote a short story that involved a Civil War reenactment, and I would certainly have begged for permission to use one of your photos to go with it!
ReplyDeleteI have roots in Chemung, too. I'm descended from the Christian Loop family. :)
I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. therefore, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article.
ReplyDeleteI’m sorry I have been away for a few years from writing, and I am just seeing some of these more recent comments. Thank you for visiting my blog which I hope to start up again in the near future.
ReplyDelete