Elmira Prison Camp

[L Verge]

For those of you familiar with the Surratt story, you know that the probable cause for John Surratt, Jr., to be in New York State at the time of the assassination was related to Gen. Edwin Lee's mission to get Confederate funds into Canada and also to check out the possibility of successfully instigating a Confederate "jail-break" from the Union prison camp in Elmira (the Northern equivalent of Andersonville).

One of the Surratt Museum volunteers grew up in the Troy/Elmira region, and his sister sent him an article from the July 10, 2016, issue of the Elmira Star-Gazette reporting on the beginning of a reconstruction of the Civil War camp, which operated from July 6, 1864 (the first shipment was 400 prisoners) through July 11, 1865, incarcerating 12,121 Confederates.

An original building (possibly a granary, commissary/pharmacy, or even a storage house for the dead) still existed there and has been dismantled and the lumber numbered and stored. A new building will be reconstructed from remnants of that old one. There will also be exhibits telling the story of "Hellmira," where over 3000 prisoners died in the one-year existence of the camp from disease, lack of food, and flooding from the nearby Chemung River.

The Chemung County Historical Society has a number of artifacts related to the camp. A fall opening is expected. I wonder if John Surratt will be mentioned in any of the displays?