Cannon over the Camp

The Belle Isle prisoner-of-war camp was a prison without walls, with Federal soldiers confined by the James River and a low earthen dead line surrounding the camp. About a hundred Confederate guards were assigned there and were authorized to shoot any prisoner who crossed the dead line. On the hill above the camp, artillery pieces were positioned to intimidate the captives further. Gilbert E. Sabre, imprisoned there in 1863-1864, later recalled that four pieces of artillery stood at different points on the ridge, loaded with shot and canister and aimed to rake all parts of the camp, with cannoneers always at the guns ready to fire at any sign of revolt.

Richmond, Virginia · United States