Confederate Prisoner of War Records

United States U.S. Military  U.S. Civil War  Confederate Prisoner of War Records

Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865
The "Selected Records of the War Department Relating to Confederate Prisoners of War, 1861-1865" (NARA M598) is a collection consisting of 427 bound volumes. The records are of Confederate prisoners of war and political prisoners confined in Union prisons. They consist mainly of registers and lists of captured soldiers and civilians. The records contain information such as names, rank, unit or residence, dates of capture, deaths, and prisoners released.

Online


 * (FamilySearch)
 * Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865 (Ancestry) ($) (note: this database also contains records of M918 and M2072 as well as records of Union prisoners of war from M1303.)


 * A wiki article describing the above Familysearch collection is found at:


 * United States, Records of Confederate Prisioners of War (FamilySearch Historical Records)

Libraries


 * Locate M598 at a library using Worldcat.

Union Provost Marshals' File
The Provost Marshals' File of papers relating to two or more civilians (NARA M416) contains lists of civilian prisoners in Union prisons. The records of prisoners are on microfilm rolls 84-94 and are listed alphabetically by prison location. The records are available online.

Other Confederate Prisoner of War Records

 * Register of Confederate Soldiers, Sailors, and Citizens who Died in Federal Prisons and Military Hospitals in the North, 1861-1865 (M918)
 * Lists of Confederates Captured at Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863 (M2072)

Both of the above collections are included in Ancestry's "Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865" database mentioned above.

Related Books

 * Portals to Hell: Military Prisons of the Civil War (Worldcat) by Lonnie R. Speer contains the history of Union and Confederate prisons.