Among the prisoners confined at Charleston during the hitter months of the war was Major Orlando J. Smith, of the Sixth Indiana Cavalry, who bore testimony all his life to the fair treatment of young ofBcers like himself. " We were treated," he said, "exactly as well as the Confederates. We were hungry sometimes and so were they." The ])risoners were kept, among other places, in the Roper Hospital shown on this page, and the O'Connor House shown on the l)age following. Major Smith wa.s confined in the latter place. The battle of Nii-shville had been fought, and Sherman was on his way from the sea. The investment of Petersburg was drawing closer every day, and the Confederacy was slowly crumbling. Victory and release were at hand, and in the meantime the shady porches of the Roper Hospital shown below were not an unpleasant i)lace to lomige. Undoubtedly many of the prisoners yearned with fierce eagerness to be free again, but their incarceration here was not to be for long.
MAJOR ORLANDO J. SMITH
ROPER HOSPITAL, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA
THE O'CONNOR HOUSE IN CHARLESTON, WHERE FEDERAL OFFICERS WERE KEPT
During the last months of the war a number of Federal prisoners were confined in Charleston while the town was being bombarded by the Federals from their stronghold on Morris Island. In retaliation, six hundred Confederate officers were sent from Fort Delaware and placed in a stockade on Morris Island under the fire of the Confederate guns. Little or no damage was done on either side. This is a photograph of the O'Connor house in Charleston, used as an officers' prison. It was taken in .April, 1863, after the occupation of the city by the Federal forces. The building in front of the O'Connor house is in ruins, but there are no marks of shells \-isible on the O'Connor house itself. Now that the fierce heat of war has passed, it has been admitted that it would have been impossible to keep prisoners anywhere in Charleston without exposing them to the bombardment, since that covered the entire city. H— 11
ONE OF THE FEW SCENES OF RETALIATION STOCKADE FOR CONFEDERATE PRISONERS ON MORRIS ISLAND
Many threats of retaliation for the alleged mistreatment of prisoners were made during the war, l)ut the photograph above is the scene of one of the few which were carried out. In 18(54, while Sherman was pushing everything before him in Georgia, a number of Union prisoners were sent to Charleston and confined within the city limits, actually under fire of the Union batteries, although the city was still inhabited. In retaliation, six hundred Confederate officers were placed on the steamer Crescent, August 20, 1864, and started for Charleston from Fort Delaware. When they arrived, the stockade built for their prison on ^Morris Island under fire of the Confederate batteries was not ready, and the prisoners were not landed till September 7th. The food furnished them was identical with that which rumor had it was furnished the prisoners in the city. The Confederates, however, were careful to fire high. The guard in the stockade was as much exposed as the prisoners. The Federal prisoners in the city were finally withdrawn; the stockade was then abandoned, and its inmates sent to Fort Pulaski, Savannah, on October 'JS, 1864.