Belle Isle Prison

Belle Isle Prison (HMHNV)

Location: Richmond, VA 23219
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Country: United States of America
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N 37° 32.13', W 77° 26.799'

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Inscription
Directly in front of you, in mid-river, is Belle Isle. Despite the large number of Union prisoners brought to Richmond during the Civil War, the city had only two full-time prisons. Libby Prison for Union officers, a mile and a half downriver, was the more famous of the pair, but Belle Isle, designed for Union enlisted men, was the most miserable.

Confederate authorities realized that the island would make an ideal site for holding captured enlisted men from the Union army. The first prisoners arrived from the battlefields in July 1862. Overcrowding soon became the prison's primary problem. At times as many as 6,000 men occupied the portion of the island that had been set aside for prisoners. The absence of wooden buildings increased the suffering of the incarcerated soldiers. Poor sanitation, winter's cold and summer's heat and sun, malnutrition, and an insufficient number of tents plagued the prisoners. By 1864, about 20,000 men had spent some time on the island. The precise number of deaths is not yet known, but the sum could approach 1,000 men.
Details
HM NumberHMHNV
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Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014 at 6:58am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 283825 N 4157092
Decimal Degrees37.53550000, -77.44665000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 37° 32.13', W 77° 26.799'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds37° 32' 7.80" N, 77° 26' 47.94" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)804
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 701 2nd Street Connector, Richmond VA 23219, US
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