More than anything, Civil War soldiers feared becoming a prisoner of war. Among the deadliest prisons for Confederates was Rock Island Prison in Illinois. One of the most notorious for Northern prisoners was Georgia's Camp Sumter - better known as "Andersonville." Dysentery, starvation, exposure to harsh weather, and brutal mistreatment killed more men in prisons than were killed at Gettysburg, the war's deadliest battle. The gruesome reality of Civil...
I have read a number of books on the Civil War and its tragic battles with their loss of unbelievable numbers of men, some as young as 9, but probably no other book has captured the true hopelessness of war for the individual as this one does. Life and Death in Civil War Prisons by J. Michael Martinez describes in detail the terrible conditions of Civil War soldiers on both sides of the conflict who were captured and confined...
0Report
It is difficult to find a book on the War Between the States which is objective and not Yankee propaganda. It is even more rare to find one which is objective to both sides of the conflict. "Life and Death" is one of those rare works where the author sifts through material, discards the chaff, and bakes a fine loaf from the wheat. This is one of the finest books on the predicament of prisoners of war during the War Between...
0Report
Got the book sooner than expected. It was in excellent condition. Sent it to the author for an autograph! It was a gift for someone who is a Civil War buff and he thought the book was awesome! Unlike any he's ever read before.
0Report
Books on the American Civil War appear in a seemingly never-ending stream, and so it's inevitable that many good ones get lost in the cascade and never receive the attention they deserve. J. Michael Martinez's Life and Death in Civil War Prisons is one of these. It's really an excellent study, well written, nicely illustrated, and painstakingly researched (as its 40-odd pages of closely-printed endnotes and bibliography...
0Report
I originally bought this book in a bargain section and didn't have high expectations although I got quite a lot for my money. Author J Michael Martinez has written an interesting book that tries to fairly focus on differing sides or accounts of life inside Civil War prisons. The book follows a firsthand account from a Confederate soldier (Minnich) that was captured and sent to Rock Island Prison outside of Davenport, IA...
0Report