Elmira Prison 1

FOOD Troops had very little food to keep them alive. All they got was a little bread and water. Many developed scurvy from lack of meat and vegetables.

FOSTERS POND Fosters Pond was a stagnant puddle in the middle of camp. It was filled with human waste and garbage. Just the smell made men vomit. It was about 40 feet wide and the source of most of the disease. Five prisoners a day died of disease from the pond.

WHAT IS SCURVY??? Scurvy is a vitamin C deficiency; the symptoms are gum and hair loss.

LETS TALK NUMBERS The prison was only supposed to hold 5,000 prisoners by the end of the first month there was already 4,400. By the end of the second month there was 9,600 and 800 of them had scurvy. When September came 1,870 prisoners had scurvy and at the end of the war there were 12,123 prisoners, over twice what there should have been.

LAYOUT The prison Layout was over 40 acres big, 35 buildings stood. All of this was inside a 12 foot stockade fence.

ELMIRA PRISON CAMP

SWEAT BOX At the prison there was a coffin like box, know simply as the “sweat box.” Even for minor punishment you could go in sweat box and come out “more dead than alive.” It stood 7 feet tall, 12 inches deep and 20 inches wide.

By: Tom G.