A college graduate at 16 and a founder of the Sigma Chi fraternity, Caldwell entered the Confederate Army as an artillery lieutenant. He fought at Shiloh, Port Hudson and other campaigns before being captured in 1863 and imprisoned on Johnson's Island, in Lake Erie, near Sandusky, Ohio. He kept a daily diary for 18 months, describing the prison food and conditions, as well as his classical and intellectual interests. The book features letters, a poem, notes, and an index.

Johnson's Island, in Sandusky, Ohio, was not the largest Civil War prison in the North, but it was the only one to house Confederate officers almost exclusively. As a result, a distinctive prison culture developed, in part because of the educational background and access to money enjoyed by these prisoners. David Bush has spent more than two decades leading archaeological investigations at the prison site. In I Fear I Shall Never Leave This Island he pairs the expertise gained there with a deep reading of extant letters between one officer and his wife in Alexandria, Virginia, providing unique insights into the trials and tribulations of captivity as actually experienced by the men imprisoned at Johnson's Island. Together, these letters and the material culture unearthed at the site capture in compelling detail the physical challenges and emotional toll of prison life for POWs and their families. They also offer fascinating insights into the daily lives of the prisoners by revealing the very active manufacture of POW craft jewelry, especially rings. No other collection of Civil War letters offers such a rich context; no other archaeological investigation of Civil War prisons provides such a human story.

"Decidedly the best location": establishing the prison -- "A prison for officers alone": early days of operation -- "Everything in prison is elated": the road to exchange -- "It requires only proper energy and judgment": the second wave of prisoners -- "This horrid life of inactivity": the battle with boredom -- "A matter of necessity": prison economics -- "A guard for unarmed men": guards and commanders -- "Almost a fixed impossibility": escapes and attempts -- "The wrath of hunger": rations and Union retaliation -- "A pitiful scene": climate and health -- "Sad and glad at the same time": the road to release

One of the many controversial issues to emerge from the Civil War was the treatment of prisoners of war. At two stockades, the Confederate prison at Anderson, and the Union prison at Elmira, suffering was accute and mortality was high. This work explores the economic and social impact of Elmira.

"The articles in this book carefully consider the passionate and partisan documents of the era in order to arrive at a clear, dispassionate understanding of the prisons North and South, how they were administered, and what life for the captured soldiers was like" - from back cover.

Before the Civil War, George Proctor Kane had been a businessman, thespian, political appointee, philanthropist and militiaman. During the war, as Baltimore's chief of police, he harbored the divided loyalties familiar to the border states--Southern in his sentiments yet Northern in his allegiances. As the city's top lawman, he sought to reform Baltimore's "Mobtown" image. He ensured that President-elect Lincoln, passing through on the way to his inauguration, was not assassinated. He protected Union troops marching to defend Washington, D.C. He was eventually imprisoned as a Southern sympathizer, denied habeas corpus as his captors transferred him from prison to prison. This book recounts Kane's enigmatic public life before and during the Civil War, his Confederate activities after prison and his return to serve as mayor of Baltimore.

The Journal of the Civil War Era Volume 3, Number 4 December 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS SPECIAL ISSUE: PROCLAIMING EMANCIPATION AT 150 Articles Introduction Martha S. Jones, Guest Editor History and Commemoration: The Emancipation Proclamation at 150 James Oakes Reluctant to Emancipate? Another Look at the First Confiscation Act Stephen Sawyer & William J. Novak Emancipation and the Creation of Modern Liberal States in America and France Thavolia Glymph Rose's War and the Gendered Politics of a Slave Insurgency in the Civil War Martha Jones Emancipation Encounters: The Meaning of Freedom from the Pages of Civil War Sketchbooks Book Reviews Books Received Notes on Contributors