The White Flag Boat that Carried Prisoners to Freedom

Lying at the wharf is the Federal "flag‑of‑truce boat" New York, which carried exchanged prisoners to Aiken's Landing, and later to City Point, in 1862, for the exchange to be completed. Whatever their enthusiasm for the Stars and Stripes or the Stars and Bars, the white flag floating from the mast of the New York was greeted with equal joy by Federals and Confederates. It signified liberty and home. The Federal prisoners were usually taken from the point of exchange first to Fortress Monroe, and then to the parole camp at Annapolis. There they awaited payment for their services, which accrued during the time they were imprisoned just as if they had been in active service. This was a formality which the Confederate soldiers overlooked, especially in the last year of the war. By 1865 Confederate currency had depreciated to such an extent that a man paid $400 to have a horse curried, as related by a Confederate veteran, and the exchanged Confederates returned whenever possible directly to their regiments in the field.