Feb. 9, 2010
BOOK REVIEW: 'Libby Prison Breakout'
Captured Union Officers Escape from Richmond's P.O.W. Camp, Foreshadowing WWII's 'Great Escape' 80 Years Later
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic
Civil War buffs and even the general public are familiar with the notorious Andersonville Prison, where the Confederacy housed Union prisoners of war near Americus, Georgia under horrendous conditions. Not so many know about Libby Prison in the heart of the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA.
Joseph Wheelan fills this gap with his well researched and very readable "Libby Prison Breakout: The Daring Escape from the Notorious Civil War Prison" (PublicAffairs, 304 pages, illustrations, bibliography, notes, index, $26.95). Wheelan also chronicles the activities of Union sympathizers in the Confederate capital, centering around socially prominent Elizabeth Van Lew.
One of my favorite movies is "The Great Escape" a 1963 fictionalization, produced and directed by John Sturges, of an actual escape from a German prisoner of war camp, Stalag Luft III (link to a site on the real "Great Escape": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III). The movie featured an international cast including Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Hannes Messemer, James Coburn and James Garner and it fairly accurately portrays the technical aspects of the escape.
Wheelan examines what became the most important escape of the Civil War from a Confederate prison, one that ultimately increased the North’s and South’s willingness to use prisoners in waging “total war.” In a converted tobacco warehouse, Libby’s Union officers survived on cornbread and bug-infested soup, and slept without blankets on the bare floor. With prisoner exchanges suspended, escape and death were the only ways out. The situation was even worse for captured enlisted men and non-commissioned officers, who were housed in tents along the James River.
The author recounts the meticulous planning that led to the Feb. 9, 1864 escape of 109 officers -- out of the 1,200 housed in Libby -- through a 55-foot-long tunnel and their flight through the heart of the enemy homeland in one of the coldest winters of the war to safety for some and capture for others. Officers who made it to Washington, DC testified about the conditions, leading to two investigations and a new cycle of violence against Confederate P.O.W.s.
Wheelan's depiction of the planners of the escape brings them to life and the interaction of the prisoners and their guards is just about perfect. Still, the sections of the book dealing with Van Lew and other Union sympathizers intrigued me even more. I was familiar with Unionists in the heart of the Confederate nation from my reading, especially a recent book about Atlanta, "The Bonfire", also from PublicAffairs, which I reviewed on this site last fall (link: http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/columns/090928-kinchen-columnsbookreview.html). Unionists in Southern states weren't restricted to the Appalachian Mountain areas of Tennessee, West Virginia and North Carolina; they were present in most of the cities of the C.S.A.
"Libby Prison Breakout" is an important contribution to Civil War historiography and will be appreciated by both Civil War buffs and general readers alike.
About the Author
Joseph Wheelan, a former Associated Press reporter and editor, is the author of Mr. Adams’s Last Crusade, Invading Mexico, Jefferson’s War, and Jefferson’s Vendetta. He lives in Cary, North Carolina.
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BOOK REVIEW: 'Libby Prison Breakout'
Captured Union Officers Escape from Richmond's P.O.W. Camp, Foreshadowing WWII's 'Great Escape' 80 Years Later
Reviewed By David M. Kinchen
Huntingtonnews.net Book Critic
Civil War buffs and even the general public are familiar with the notorious Andersonville Prison, where the Confederacy housed Union prisoners of war near Americus, Georgia under horrendous conditions. Not so many know about Libby Prison in the heart of the Confederate capital of Richmond, VA.
Joseph Wheelan fills this gap with his well researched and very readable "Libby Prison Breakout: The Daring Escape from the Notorious Civil War Prison" (PublicAffairs, 304 pages, illustrations, bibliography, notes, index, $26.95). Wheelan also chronicles the activities of Union sympathizers in the Confederate capital, centering around socially prominent Elizabeth Van Lew.
One of my favorite movies is "The Great Escape" a 1963 fictionalization, produced and directed by John Sturges, of an actual escape from a German prisoner of war camp, Stalag Luft III (link to a site on the real "Great Escape": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalag_Luft_III). The movie featured an international cast including Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough, Hannes Messemer, James Coburn and James Garner and it fairly accurately portrays the technical aspects of the escape.
Wheelan examines what became the most important escape of the Civil War from a Confederate prison, one that ultimately increased the North’s and South’s willingness to use prisoners in waging “total war.” In a converted tobacco warehouse, Libby’s Union officers survived on cornbread and bug-infested soup, and slept without blankets on the bare floor. With prisoner exchanges suspended, escape and death were the only ways out. The situation was even worse for captured enlisted men and non-commissioned officers, who were housed in tents along the James River.
The author recounts the meticulous planning that led to the Feb. 9, 1864 escape of 109 officers -- out of the 1,200 housed in Libby -- through a 55-foot-long tunnel and their flight through the heart of the enemy homeland in one of the coldest winters of the war to safety for some and capture for others. Officers who made it to Washington, DC testified about the conditions, leading to two investigations and a new cycle of violence against Confederate P.O.W.s.
Wheelan's depiction of the planners of the escape brings them to life and the interaction of the prisoners and their guards is just about perfect. Still, the sections of the book dealing with Van Lew and other Union sympathizers intrigued me even more. I was familiar with Unionists in the heart of the Confederate nation from my reading, especially a recent book about Atlanta, "The Bonfire", also from PublicAffairs, which I reviewed on this site last fall (link: http://archives.huntingtonnews.net/columns/090928-kinchen-columnsbookreview.html). Unionists in Southern states weren't restricted to the Appalachian Mountain areas of Tennessee, West Virginia and North Carolina; they were present in most of the cities of the C.S.A.
"Libby Prison Breakout" is an important contribution to Civil War historiography and will be appreciated by both Civil War buffs and general readers alike.
About the Author
Joseph Wheelan, a former Associated Press reporter and editor, is the author of Mr. Adams’s Last Crusade, Invading Mexico, Jefferson’s War, and Jefferson’s Vendetta. He lives in Cary, North Carolina.
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