The World Needs More Kevin

Being a prisoner of war during the Civil War was not a pleasant experience. Andersonville was as bad as it got but POW camps in the north were not five-star resorts either. Most have been lost over time like some of the most notorious like Elmira in New York or Camp Douglas in Chicago. One does remain, Point Lookout in St. Mary’s County, Maryland.

Captain John Smith had brought Europeans to the area in 1608. The peninsula is bordered by the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay and Smith gave a favorable report to the crown about its commercial and military value. The colony of Maryland was founded in 1634 near the point. The place was used as a point of observations, or point of lookout, during the War of 1812 to watch for British ships, which did come in 1813.

Point Lookout and Fort Lincoln were established in 1862 as a military hospital and a temporary prisoner of war camp following the Battle of Gettysburg. The prisoners would be exchanged so no one stayed too long. That changed in 1864 when the exchanged cartel broke down over the South’s refusal to recognize black soldiers as being eligible for exchange.

Over 50,000 Confederate soldiers were housed here during the war and it must have been difficult with Virginia visible in the distance. It was built to hold a maximum of 20,000 prisoners and Point Lookout had a reputation of being the worst Union camp. Poor sanitary conditions and a tit-for-tat mentality following the revelation of the poor treatment of Union prisoners at Andersonville led the to death of about 4,000 Confederates. They were buried in a mass grave just to the north of the camp.

Much of the original site has been washed away but Point Lookout State Park does have a reconstructed prisoner stockade and the remnants of Fort Lincoln. To the north of the camp on private land is a memorial to the Confederates who died while held at Point Lookout.