Changing The Guard At Elmira Prison, 1864

 This photograph of the quarters of the guards who kept watch of the thousands of Confederate prisoners confined at Elmira shows that conditions were much better outside the camp than in. The long shadows of the regular lines of tents indicate plainly that it was taken late in the afternoon. The leafage on the trees fixes the season as summer. The men are apparently engaged in changing guard. Dr. E. F. Sanger, the surgeon attached to Elmira, had great difficulty in getting his requisitions filled. In the midst of plenty in the rich State of New York the prisoners were attacked by scurvy on account of lack of fresh vegetables.