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.
