Libby Prison after the Tables Were Turned — Confederate Prisoners Confined in the Southern Stronghold

In this dramatic record by the camera of April, 1865, appear Confederate captives pressing their faces against the bars through which one hundred and twenty-five thousand Federal prisoners had gazed from the inside during the war. Union sentinels are guarding the prison. Major Thomas P. Turner, who had been commandant of the prison, though a subordinate, Richard Turner, had more direct authority, was confined here at this time. Strenuous efforts were made to secure evidence on which to prefer charges against him. The attempts proved unsuccessful and he was released. During the war this building was occupied as a prison for Federal officers. The privates were confined elsewhere in the city, or in Belle Isle in the James River. After the war a quartermaster, Major Morfit, in whose charge money had been placed, was examined by a military commission, but his accounts were found correct, and he was exonerated from all blame. The group of men gathered on the outside are mostly Union soldiers.