Yankees in the Hill City

With three railroads and a canal passing through the city, Lynchburg, Virginia, was a major hospital center during the Civil War, far from the remote battlefields. A transit camp where Union soldiers remained before being paroled or transferred to another prison opened in June 1862 at the Fair Ground, just outside the city limits. Upon arrival, the sick and wounded were assigned to one of the 32 hospitals regardless of the uniform they wore. Union POWs who died were buried in the City Cemetery by the local funeral service, which also carefully recorded their personal data. Local ministers daily performed burial services for all soldiers, regardless of their race or the color of their uniforms, and all their expenses were paid by the Confederate government. This book presents the complete history of this Union POW camp in Lynchburg: the context of its founding, its operations, and its fate after the war. Two appendices present burial records for the POWs and Lynchburg Campaign casualties.

Clifton W. Potter, Jr. graduated from Lynchburg College in 1962 with a B.A. in history, magna cum laude. He was a Fulbright Fellow at Merton College, Oxford, and holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia. After a teaching career spanning 54 years, he retired from the University of Lynchburg with the rank of professor of history, emeritus.

Clifton W. Potter, Jr.
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 234
Bibliographic Info: 11 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9588-4
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5389-1
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Preface 1
Chapter 1. Tobacco City 9
Chapter 2. The Decline of Richmond 28
Chapter 3. The Lynchburg System 52
Chapter 4. Vermin and Vespers 78
Chapter 5. The Lynchburg Campaign 100
Chapter 6. The Convenience of Memory 119
Appendix A: Burial Records for POWs, 1862–1865 143
Appendix B: Lynchburg Campaign Casualties, KIA/MIA 166
Chapter Notes 171
Bibliography 185
Index 213