Map of Elmira Prison Made by a Confederate Soldier Imprisoned There

The treatment of prisoners of war, many of whom were not released until after the surrender of the Confederate armies, was a contentious issue during Reconstruction. High death rates in several prisons led to charges and counter-charges of atrocities. Because the subject of Civil War prisoner of war camps is less studied than other areas of the war, I am writing on different aspects of the prisoner of war topic this summer. I will also be posting a survey of the recent historiography of Civil War prisoners of war. These posts will go into significant detail on both what happened in the camps and how it was perceived during Reconstruction.

The Library of Congress website has this really interesting map of Elmira Prison drawn by a Confederate who had been imprisoned there. Elmira is located in Western New York, west of Binghamton. During the Civil War is saw the highest number of deaths of prisoners of any camp in the North.

I recommend that you go to the site to blow up the map and explore it. It contains both hand written and typed explanatory notes. You can find it here:

https://www.loc.gov/resource/glva01.lva00001/?r=-0.01,0.258,1.194,0.438,0

The map was likely completed after the war and watercolors are used to “color-code” the map. From the LOC:

“Map made by David J. Coffman, born in 1839 in Luray, [Page] County, Va. Served in Co. D., 7th Virginia Calvary (sic). This map made while he was a prisoner of war at Elmira, N.Y., Military Prison.”- Accompanied by a copy of Coffman’s Civil War service record (22 x 28 cm.), stating he enlisted Apr. 1, 1862 in Luray, Virginia, was captured May 20, 1864, in Bowling Green, Virginia, and released June 27, 1865, Elmira, New York.

Here is the color-coding key:

What Coffman does not map out is the failure by the Union authorities to provide permanent strucures for many of the prisoners. Many were forced to live for months in harsh temperatures in tents. At times nearly half of the population of the camp was in tents. You can see the barracks in the background.

Here is the area north of the stockade. The large building at the center is Foster House. Water Street would not have been devoid of buildings at the time. Officers homes were constructed along it. The map shows the “Observatory” at the northeast corner. This was a commercial venture to allow people to gawk at the prisoners for a moderate fee.

This photo shows the stockade on the left, Water Street in the center. On the right is the observatory.

A battery of artillery was stationed at the prison in case of an uprising by prisoners.