• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Commemoration of the Elmira POW Camp Planned

April 10, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Prison Camp CDV0001The Chemung Valley Living History Center will host the 150th Anniversary Commemoration of Camp Chemung (the Civil War Prisoner of War Camp in Elmira, NY) on May 3rd and 4th, 2014.

The event will include a re-enactment on the actual camp ground in Elmira.

Elmira Prison was a prisoner-of-war camp constructed by the Union Army to house captive Confederate soldiers. During the 15 months the site was used as a prisoner of war camp more than 12,100 Confederate soldiers were incarcerated there; of these, nearly 25% (2,963) died from a combination of malnutrition, continued exposure to harsh winter weather, and disease from the poor sanitary conditions on Foster’s Pond combined with a lack of medical care. The camp’s dead were prepared for burial and laid to rest by the sexton, an ex-slave named John W. Jones, at what is now Woodlawn National Cemetery. At the end of the war, each prisoner was required to take a loyalty oath and given a train ticket home. The last prisoner left the camp on September 27, 1865. The camp was then closed, demolished and converted to farm land.

Woodlawn Cemetery, about 2 miles north of the original prison camp site (bounded by West Hill, Bancroft, Davis, and Mary streets), was designated a National Cemetery in 1877. The prison camp site is a residential area today, and few of the city’s residents are aware that the prison camp ever existed. However, there is a memorial at the site today.

Parking and entrance to the event will be from the Grove Street Boat Lauch area in Elmira. No other information has been released about this event. There is a website with information for reenactors, but it is of little value to visitors to the event.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Filed Under: Events, History Tagged With: Civil War, Crime and Justice, Elmira, Military History

About Editorial Staff

Stories written under the Editorial Staff byline are drawn from press releases and other notices. Submit your news to New York Almanack here.

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Support Our 2022 Fundraising

Subscribe to New York Almanack

Subscribe! Follow the New York Almanack each day via E-mail, RSS, Twitter or Facebook updates.

Recent Comments

  • Adrienne Saint-Pierre on The Smith Family of Acrobats and Clowns & Saratoga Springs
  • Bob Smith on The Smith Family of Acrobats and Clowns & Saratoga Springs
  • Bob Smith on The Smith Family of Acrobats and Clowns & Saratoga Springs
  • John Tepper Marlin on 1875: The Ticonderoga Sentinel Returns
  • Amy Godine on The Red Scare: A Personal History
  • Charlesarles R. Cormier on Beacon Oil: New York’s Lighthouse Gas Stations
  • peter Waggitt on Socialism, Greenwich Village & ‘The Masses’
  • Adrienne Saint-Pierre on The Smith Family of Acrobats and Clowns & Saratoga Springs
  • Pat B on Socialism, Greenwich Village & ‘The Masses’
  • Richard on Under Threat: The Penn Station Neighborhood in Manhattan

Recent New York Books

stewards of the water
off the northway
Horse Racing the Chicago Way
The Women's House of Detention
Long Island’s Gold Coast Warriors and the First World War
Public Faces Secret Lives by Wendy Rouse
adirondack cabin
Spaces of Enslavement and Resistance in Dutch New York
ilion cover

Secondary Sidebar

preservation league
Protect the Adirondacks Hiking Guide