Death & Disease at a Union P.O.W. Camp (Civil War) | History Traveler Episode 108

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Unfortunately you'll never satisfy everyone. The fact that you're doing a service to all men who served in the civil war both Union and Confederate and telling stories regardless of what side you were on suggest to me that you're about the history and not about the side. This video was well done as always.

Don’t listen to the haters, you’ll never satisfy them, just do you.

My 2 times Great grandfather, Samuel Chase Woodfin's brother Moses was taken prisoner of at the battle of Missionary Ridge, Chattanooga, Tennessee. He was taken to the Union POW Camp at Rock Island, Illinois. After getting my Ancestry DNA, I started finding info on the "Woodfin Boys of Rutherford County". I Googled the Rock Island POW Camp. It was bad! There was a TV documentary years ago about a Union POW Camp near Chicago. This show described this camp was just as bad as Andersonville. All POW Camps were bad. Thank God Moses survived his imprisonment. I have no idea how his health was when he returned home. Thank you for showing both sides. WAR IS HELL. Continue your good work. Hope you have a blessed, healthy and prosperous New Year. Please stay safe. 🙏🥰👍👌🙏🦅🔔🗽🇺🇸🙏

Thank you for visiting the site of this prison and remembering the men who died there. I have ancestors who were in both armies. My great-great-grandfather, Wilson Cherry Jr., was a Confederate soldier who died at Camp Morton in Indianapolis, of which no remnants remain today. He is buried in a mass grave at Crown Hill Cemetery. While I am no sympathizer of the Confederate cause, I fear that many in their modern day zeal to right past wrongs will go too far and attempt to obliterate the memory of men like my great-great-grandfather. Every man, regardless of which side he fought for, deserves to have his existence acknowledged at his burial site - and when we do so, it does not necessarily indicate approval of the cause for which he fought. We would do well, as the survivors of Andersonville did at Providence Spring, to remember the words of Abraham Lincoln: "With malice toward none, with charity for all..." A couple of other interesting historical notes about Alton: it was the site of the final Lincoln-Douglas debate on 10/15/1858, and it was the birthplace of jazz legend Miles Davis.

That's a beautiful monument they put up. The men who died were still Americans at the bottom of everything and deserve to be remembered. I had family on both sides of the war (which I didn't know until recently.) Thanks for visiting these places.

Well said... "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

I remember watching the TV series “The Civil War” about 30 years ago and found it fascinating. Did you know that the Confederate warship, the Shenandoah, sailed into Melbourne in 1865 to recruit men to fight for the South? When I was in secondary school we learnt about it in Australian history.

Very well spoken in the last couple of minutes. Couldn't agree more.

I never comment on YouTube but I felt the need this time. The work you put in to these videos is extremely appreciated by a large if not majority of your viewers. I alone depend heavily on your adventures to get me through my work days. As a man who loves American history you have been my sole provider of new information on old topics. You do an amazing job at out sourcing your knowledge to us and sharing how you found it. Thanks for all you do and it’s unfortunate others have to critique or spew nonsense within the comment section. Keep up the great work!! The revolutionary war series is what I just finished 👌🏼

The war between the states was a human tragedy for everyone involved and it’s effects are still with us. You do a fine job highlighting the inhumanity of that and all wars

Fantastic video, as always. I really appreciate your mention of the wreaths. It brought to mind one of my favorite quotes from Band of Brothers when Shifty Powers was being interviewed during the "We stand alone together" video. He said in regards to the German soldiers... "We might have had a lot in common. He might’ve liked to fish, you know, he might’ve liked to hunt" "Of course, they were doing what they were supposed to do, and I was doing what I was supposed to do. But under different circumstances, we might have been good friends" - SSG. Darrell "Shifty" Powers

You will never please everyone. I have found you fair in all stories, and history you narrate. Your non judgmental, and don't take sides as to what history is about. Please who you can, your doing a good job.

To honor the war dead of the civil war is to honor Americans. Thank you for taking us on this journey.

War rarely brings out the best of us, but it always brings out the worst of us. Civil War POW camps testify to that. Thank you for visiting Alton.

I think alot of the suffering was due to both sides having no real system for dealing with POWs to begin with. They were so eager to go to war that after the battles they found they had prisoners. "Well, now what do we do with them?" There being no provisions established for this problem, they dealt with it as best they could. Resulting in half-measures and slipshod results. Things could have been done better on both sides, that is certain. But when you're trying to win a war, bullets are on the top of your priorities list. And POWs end up on the bottom.

I remember reading that for the women survivors of the Civil War, the greatest obstacle to healing was that so many of the remains were not returned to home soil, so that families could have a grave to mourn at. The southern women began decorating Union graves near them as consolation, hoping that perhaps up north, women would decorate the graves of the southern soldiers in return.

This makes me so grateful that my Great Grandfather and his brother survived Rock Island Prison. Although he was never the same, at least he survived. Those were extremely tough times, especially in the South.

The one constant of war is that it is never innocent. Atrocities are committed by all actors, because war is at its very core an atrocity. The fact that the most intelligent and sentient beings cannot reconcile differences other than to kill one another, is the greatest atrocity. Unfortunately sometimes that is the only option, to fight evil, with evil acts. I fear that this rewriting of history being promoted by so many we will forget everything that lead up to the point of war. You MUST study history from everyone’s perspective. Thank you.

Your next stop should be Elmira, NY my hometown and I still live in the area. Civil War Camp called Helmira.