August 22, 1864---Winnowing the ranks

AUGUST 22, 1864:   

Robert E. Lee asks for a temporary truce and offers to exchange prisoners taken in the Second Battle of The Weldon Railroad. Lee is holding almost 5,000 Union prisoners that he cannot afford to house or feed at this point. Ulysses S. Grant, who is holding 2,000 Confederates, sticks to the Union policy of not exchanging prisoners; knowing that the P.O.W.s are putting additional strain on Lee’s increasingly depleted forces Grant leaves them where they are.

At this point in the Civil War, being a P.O.W. was a fate often worse than death. Prisoner of War facilities had been crude and remained crude throughout the war. Illness was rampant, and prisoner maltreatment a common event. Particularly in the South, food stocks had shrunk to the point where many prisoners could not even receive the thin gruel that was their fare on a daily basis.

Conditions in and around Petersburg were becoming dire for the Rebel troops. Although, after Gettysburg, the Confederate government had worked a literal miracle to ensure that its men were always properly clothed and shod, the siege conditions around Petersburg had disrupted supplies of clothes, food, and armaments. As the Siege dragged on, the Confederates were being starved out. Their uniforms were beginning to fall to rags. Their shoes were beginning to wear and rot away. Their weapons were becoming unusable. Lack of calories was making them weak and they were becoming sick in droves. The stereotype of the barefooted and ragamuffin Confederate soldier was becoming a frightening reality. And the Union’s constant small-scale actions were winnowing the ranks.  At one point, Lee had only 14,000 effectives, and was forced to impress the walking wounded into holding the lines.