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The Keepers of Point Lookout
Prison
James Barnes and Staff at Point Lookout, MD.
Barnes was in command of the district of St.
Mary's, with headquarter's at Point Lookout, Md., during the latter part of
the war. Here the largest prison of the North was established August 1,
1863, on the low peninsula where the Potomac joins the Chesapeake Bay. No
barracks were erected within the enclosure; tents were used instead. There
was at all times a sufficiency or
these for shelter, though at times
nearly twenty thousand Confederate prisoners were in confinement here, and
they were occasionally overcrowded. Negro troops formed part of the guard,
and such a vast number of prisoners naturally required a large organization
to take care of them. In this photograph are shown all the officers in
connection with the prison. From left to right, not counting the two
soldiers holding the flags, they are: Dr. A. Heger, medical direclor;
Captain C. H. Drew, assistant adjutant-general; Captain H. E. Goodwin;
assistant quartermaster; Lieutenant H. C. Strong, assistant quartermaster;
Brigadier-General James Barnes; Major A. G. Brady, provost-marshall; Dr. T.
H. Thompson, Surgeon; Captain J. W. Welch, ordnance officer; Lieutenant
Wilson, aide-de-camp; and the last is
Lieutenant J. T. Cantwell, engineer. |
