ONE PRISONER'S STORY

Albert Miller McManus, III contributed this information about his ancestor.
"I have some info about Samuel B. McManus that my grandparents told me. They said that when he was captured and held prisoner and that the guard (black man) treated him bad and threw his food on the ground like feeding a dog. When he was released he shot and killed the guard. They then took his gun away and locked him up again for 2 more years.

"My granddad said that when he came home from the war the children in the yard were scared of him, they didnt know who he was. He had a big beard and need a bath real bad, he said he had lice and ticks real bad. He told me that everyone thought that he was dead. I dont have any proof, but thats the story we were told by my grandparents. One more little bit of info on Samual was that when he did get home covered in ticks and lice he had to sleep outside until they could cut his hair and beard and clean him up."

From the Compiled Military Service Record: Pvt. Samuel McManus was captured November 25, 1863 at Missionary Ridge, TN, during the Battle of Chattanooga. He was then confined at Rock Island, Il and seems to have been exchanged shortly thereafter. Released in the final prisoner exchange of May 23, 1865. His grave marker at Choctaw Corner is a CSA marker.

NOTE: The prison was built in mid-1863, and not yet completed in December 1863 when the first prisoners were incarcerated. 468 Confederate prisoners captured in battles at Chattanooga, Tennessee, were the first to arrive, although over 5000 total would swell the population of Rock Island Prison in that month alone.

Temperatures when prisoners began arriving in December 1863 were below 0 and sanitation was deplorable due to the overcrowding. Disease broke out swiftly, including a smallpox epidemic which killed hundreds of prisoners in the first few months of the prison's existence. Prisoners were buried next to the prison. In the spring of 1864, the bodies of dead prisoners were moved, a hospital built, and sewers installed. These measures improved health conditions tremendously and ended the smallpox epidemic.

Back to the Rock Island feature.