1862 Civil War ALS Describing Captivity in Confederate Libby Prison.

“Libby Prison, the filthiest place on Earth”

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American Civil War-date letter from a former prisoner held at the infamous Confederate Libby Prison at Richmond Virginia.

Union soldier A. Hoopes was captured by the Confederates at Catlin Station on the Alexandria & Orange Railroad. He was marched toward the Rapidan River and from there was transported to Richmond.

Now released from Libby Prison and hospitalized at the U.S. Naval Academy Hospital in Annapolis, describes his ordeal to his daughter Edith:

...I was lodged in the Libby Prison. The filthiest place on Earth. I could hardly eat my supper ... I was very sick when I came here with the Real Southern Darrhoea [Diarrhea] ... I think this taking of me a prisoner will result to my advantage if I don’t get killed or wounded in the balance of the war. As soon as I am exchanged I shall take up arms again as I would like to have a little satisfaction for the Rascally march they gave us ... through rain and mud and water, sometimes knee deep, sometimes deeper.

Hoopes’ letter mentions his running into a friend Oscar who had been “...taken prisoner at the Battle of Fair Oaks on the peninsula under Gen. McClellan.”

At the beginning of the war, the U.S. Naval Academy was re-located to newport, Rhode Island. The academy grounds in Annapolis, Maryland was temporarily converted for use as a military hospital for the Union Army.

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