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Prisoners Of War Essay

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How does the land of the brave and free treat their POW’s? Prisoners of War, otherwise known as POWs, date back to the Revolutionary War and continue up to current conflicts. At first, it was a challenge for America to house so-called Prisoners of War and to know how to treat them. Today, it is said that there are no real “prisoners” of war in America. Instead, the United States does not consider these people prisoners because they do not want them to be afforded the rights under the United States law and Constitution. These laws state that in the United States of America it is illegal to torture or mistreat prisoners. Detainees, who are placed in facilities like Guantanamo Bay, are subjected to punishments that range from limiting or overly …show more content…

According to the article “U.S. Civil War Prison Camps Claimed Thousands” the prisoners participated in card games and chess games to try and pass the time. They tried to do as much as possible to keep their sanity. When it all just became a little too much some prisoners were so desperate to get out of that situation they tried their best escape. They would try anything to get away. Whether that would be to pretend to be dead so they would be taken out and they could run away after the coast was clear or some would even attempt to darken their skin with charcoal and pretend to be an African American worker so they could leave with them (Hall). Prisoners would try anything just to get out of these prison camps. Apparently so many prisoners attempted to escape some prisons had to take large measures. Some camps would ban African American workers from working in their prison camps. Another popular way of escape was for Prisoners to dig tunnels in hopes of getting away but if they were captured they faced very cruel punishment for their attempts. People who lived in the Northern or Southern parts would try to protest the treatment of the prisoners, but nothing really worked to change what was going on until the end of the war. Prisoners only had two choices to deal with their prison conditions, stay there and deal with it or get out in some

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There were many appalling prison camps during the Civil War, but the most infamous was Andersonville. A shocking 13,000 people died in this camp(Bartels). Andersonville was run from February of 1864 until April of 1865. When the North found out about what happened at Andersonville, people were outraged. They wanted justice, and so the man running the camp, Henry Wirz, was tried and hanged for war crimes(Kohn).

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Most suffered from PTSD for the rest of their lives, along with other permanent mental and physical damage. After returning home, the Union soldiers told stories of the hardships they endured at the Andersonville Prison. Northerners and Southerners alike were appalled after finding out what was really going on in Southern prison camps. Demanding someone be blamed for these horrors, government officials asked those involved, and the answer was most often the same: nearly 150 former prisoners, guards, civilians, and medical staff testified that Wirz was to be blamed, as he had violated the laws of war by not only withholding available food and supplies, but also by issuing orders that resulted in the death of Union prisoners of war. Henry Wirz was charged with all of the deaths that occurred at the Andersonville prison.

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But when a prisoner got out of the camp, if he did, he would be stick-thin from near starvation and weak from the harsh cold they had to constantly endure. They would have permanent problems from that experience, physical and mental. The Civil War is not talked about as much as World War II, probably because it is not near as recent. But it was a horrific and bloody war, on the battlefield but also behind prison doors.

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