Answers to MCCWRT Prisons Quiz-- Part 2: Fort Fisher and a Great Lakes Warship

9.  Enlisted Confederates captured at Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865, were mostly sent to Elmira Prison Camp in New York.

10.  The Confederate nickname for this prison was "Hellmira" because of the horrific conditions.

11.  Two of the main prisons to which Confederate officers were sent during the war were  both in bodies of water.  One was Fort Columbus in New York Harbor.  The other was Johnson's Island in Lake Erie.

12.  Who was the highest ranking Confederate officer to die while a prisoner?  Maj. Gen. W.H.C. Whiting.  He was wounded at Fort Fisher, recovered from the wound, but died from dysentery.

13.What U.S. warship was the target of a Confederate plot to free officers held at Johnson's Island in Lake Erie?    USS Michigan

14.  The USS Michigan served for a long time but near the end of its career, its name was changed to the USS Wolverine.  Why?  So the name Michigan could be given to the battleship USS Michigan (BB-27).

How'd You Do?  --Old Secesh

Friends of Fort Fisher Attend Elmira (NY) Prison Dedication

From the July 2, 2017, Star Gazette  "Letters: Out of Town Praise for Elmira Civil War Camp" by Tom Fagart.

July 23-24, 2017, the Friends of Elmira Civil War Prison Camp in Elmira, New York, dedicated a restored original prison camp building and also held a memorial service in the Woodlawn National Cemetery, where many of the Confederate prisoners who died there are buried.

It was attended by a number of people from North Carolina and other Southern states, including eight members of the Friends of Fort Fisher.

Mr. Fagart is a member of the Friends of Elmira Prison Camp.

Elmira Prison existed from July 6, 1864, to July 11, 1865 and was dubbed "Hellmira" by the Confederate prisoners held there.  In just over 12 months, 2.970 of the 12,100 held there died of malnutrition, exposure to harsh weather, sanitary conditions, lack of medicine and disease.

Many of the dead were captured at Fort Fisher January 15, 1865.

--Old B-Runner