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In December of 1861 an empty cotton factory in Salisbury became a prison to house Northern prisoners of war. It was a brick building that stood three stories high with several cottages and outbuildings. One of these outbuildings was a blacksmith shop, which would later be known as “The Dead House’. The Confederate soldiers built a stockade around the property and guard platforms transforming the cotton factory into the Salisbury Confederate Prison. It was originally only suppose to house approximately 2,500 prisoners of war but by 1864 it became overran with more than 10,000 men. The Read the rest of this entry »

In the Salisbury National Cemetery of North Carolina, originally known as the Salisbury Confederate Prison, thousands of Union soldiers found their final resting place. They sleep on a soft, rolling hill, many without individual markers because the specifics are unknown. After the Civil War, it was officially named a National Cemetery in 1870 and enclosed in a stone wall. Of the numerous Union soldiers far from home in states including Maine, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont, Read the rest of this entry »

Salisbury Confederate Military Prison exists today as a quiet historic site with one remaining small building and trenches holding the bodies of thousands of prisoners. The story of this military prison and its silent witnesses is the story of how things can get out of control during war, despite best intentions and charity by local civilians.

Salisbury,N.C. Was home to one of the Confederacy’s first military prisons, established to house Union prisoners in 1861. It began Read the rest of this entry »

Salisbury, N.C. Was once home to one of the Confederacy’s first military prison camps. A warehouse was converted into a prison for Union soldiers and later Confederate and Union deserters and even civilian criminals were housed there. There were a number of small outbuildings and the stockade surrounded a rather pleasant campground with good water and trees. But by 1864 the population had grown from 1,500 to over 28,000. Conditions were so bad that a death toll of 28 Read the rest of this entry »