Libby Prison was a Confederate prison at Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It gained an infamous reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions under which officer prisoners from the Union Army were kept. Prisoners suffered from disease, malnutrition and a high mortality rate. By 1863, one thousand prisoners were crowded into large open rooms on two floors, with open, barred windows leaving them exposed to weather and temperature extremes.
Used before and after the war for commercial purposes, the structure was moved to Chicago in 1889 to serve as a war museum, before being finally dismantled in 1895, with its pieces sold as souvenirs.
Read more about Libby Prison: Overview, Prisoner Conditions, The Libby Chronicle, Escape From Libby, Letters From Libby
Famous quotes containing the word prison:
“Whensoever any affliction assails me, mee thinks I have the keyes of my prison in mine owne hand, and no remedy presents it selfe so soone to my heart, as mine own sword. Often meditation of this hath wonne me to a charitable interpretation of their action, who dy so: and provoked me a little to watch and exagitate their reasons, which pronounce so peremptory judgements upon them.”
—John Donne (c. 1572–1631)