Confederate Military Prison

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

Between April and December 1862, a Confederate prison holding 700 prisoners—most of whom were captured at the Battle of Shiloh—was located near this historical marker, in between the Alabama River and Tallapoosa Street. The building was a cotton depot and only 40 feet wide and 200 feet long. Living conditions were very poor; the men did not have blankets and only the ground or wooden planks to sleep on. Rodents and disease compounded these problems. As a result, almost 200 men died before the prisoners were moved to Tuscaloosa.

Images

The historical marker describing the prison is located outside a historic 1888 railroad building, which is now part of the Montgomery Biscuits Baseball stadium.

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Prisons during the Civil War were terrible on both sides. There were roughly 674,000 prisoners during the war; 56,000 of them would die of disease, lack of food, and poor living conditions.

Sources

"Confederate Military Prison/Civil War Military Prisons." The Historical Marker Database. Accessed September 30, 2017. https://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=71369.

Photos: Mark Hilton, via The Historical Marker Database