Visit HarpWeek.com
Go to the homepage...

In the Libey // Two Days with Mosby

Harper's Weekly Text
February 20, 1864, pp. 122-123

Synopsis

A Union soldier recalls his time in the Confederate prison camp, Libby Prison.  Confederate guerillas captured him from a hospital, along with other Union soldiers, and took him to the notorious prison.  The cells were crowded, the food was scant, and the water was brackish.  Many men died from these poor conditions at the camp.  During his confinement, the narrator looked for his brother among the other prisoners.  One day, he spotted his brother among a group of Union soldiers brought from the prison at Belle Isle, where conditions were even worse.  The brother, who was in the last stages of starvation, died without knowing that the narrator was at his side.  Increasingly desperate, the narrator and a friend decided to escape.  Once they made their way out of the camp, they journeyed under the cover of darkness and hid along the road to avoid Confederate troops.  In their travels, they were helped by a black man who hid them in the slave quarters of a large plantation, fed them, and led them to the river.  After nightfall, they crossed the river to safety.  Though the narrator and his friend escaped, they are still haunted by the suffering they witnessed in the ‘Libey.’


Harper's Weekly References

History:

Illustrations:
"The Escaped Refugees from the Libey Prison"
March 5, 1864, p. 145

"Exterior View of the Libey Prison, Richmond, Virginia"
October 17, 1863, p. 668

Text:
March 5, 1864, p. 151 (4)

Military Background:

"The Prisons at Richmond"
October 17, 1863, pp. 667–668

Illustration:
"Exterior View of the Libey Prison, Richmond, Virginia"
October 17, 1863, p. 668

Illustrations:

"Interior View of Libey Prison"
October 17, 1863, p. 669 (1-4)

"The Prisons at Richmond"
December 5, 1863, p. 781 (1-4)

"Escaping Union Officers Succored by Slaves"
March 12, 1864, p. 164 (1-4)

Commentary:

"Rebel Cruelty"
June 18, 1864, p. 387 (1-2)

Illustration:
"Rebel Cruelty—Our Starved Soldiers"
June 18, 1864, p. 385

 


 
 
Go to the homepage...

In the Libey // Two Days with Mosby

     
 

 
     
 

 
     
 

 

Website design © 2001-2004 HarpWeek, LLC & Ampersand Graphic Design, Inc.
All Content © 1998-2004 HarpWeek, LLC
Please submit questions to webmaster@harpweek.com