The Civil War at Belle Isle

In 1861, Virginia seceded from the United States and Richmond became the capital of the Confederate States of America. The James River was an important military waterway, and Belle Isle was fortified with defensive gun placements that protected the city from a river approach; the remains of those placements can still be found on the island's western edge. Across the James stood Tredegar Iron Works, where the Confederacy built many of its largest guns and cannons. During the Civil War, Belle Isle also held an infamous prisoner of war camp designed for 3,000 prisoners but at times crowded with as many as 10,000 Union soldiers. By the Confederacy's surrender in 1865, more than 20,000 prisoners of war had spent time there, amid conditions of ragged or absent shelter, wind and rain exposure, overcrowding, and deep misery.

Richmond, Virginia · United States