Mass Grave of 11,700 at the Most Notorious Civil War Prison

hello everybody it's Brandon and Connor here in Salisbury North Carolina with explore Charlotte and we're filming the Salisbury prison location from the Civil War which was a historic place it was considered one of the most brutal prisons in America during the Civil War and it was where Union soldiers were captured and kept during the Civil War it became infamous because the prison was only built for 2,500 people but it ended up housing over 10,000 Union soldiers who many many many over 10,000 or 11,000 ended up dying due to exposure disease and other things and they were dumped shortly away from here but right behind us is the last original building from the Salisbury prison and it is the garrison that the held the soldiers are the the southern Confederate guards who monitored the entrance to the prison which was just 40 yards down this way so we're gonna go take a walk and check out the garrison and we hope you guys will join us thank you [Music] and now we are walking to go film this garrison house and that might be an original door I see Oh in I think it's oh no that's not a no that's a D D and E s TI t D in es t I T and no idea what that would mean is that original knocker that's crazy man doors made just out of wood planks that's wild that's wild there's a Trent there's train tracks right there so literally right there is train tracks can't see them from here because they're really down low so it's like a trench that goes down there with train tracks that's the actual train line I believe that they used to bring Union soldiers in and out of here to the prison I believe that is the original railroad I don't know what this is and when I was researching I didn't expect to find this looks like a well that's where the well is that's the well there's the railroad tracks there's the railroad tracks that brought the soldiers in and out the Union soldiers in and out of here let's walk around back very cool and look at this you hear that it's the doorbell are you kidding me that's how they did doorbells I did not I've never seen anything like this that's the doorbell learn something Hunter look bud you want an apple want an apple yeah get it you do it alright go take it to him all nice laughter beans that was so cool huh wow dude that apples that Apple is amazing it's a Granny Smith I think fresh off the tree first time first time now this location stood here during the time of the Salisbury prison in the Civil War the reason it was not burned down with the prison after the war was because it was not property of the Confederacy and so today it still stands so here's a monument honoring the supposed eleven thousand seven hundred soldiers buried here from the Union and as represented by the number eleven thousand seven hundred there and there says this monument was erected by act of Congress approved March 3rd 1873 to the memory of the Unknown Union soldiers who died in the Confederate prison at Salisbury North Carolina running right down through this property is a dug out trench a little canal the creek runs through and I was told by Clyde the owner of the garrison property that we were just at that that was actually used as a latrine by the Confederate soldiers we're on the back side of the memorial that I just showed you and this says in 18 trenches just south of this spot rest the bodies of eleven thousand seven hundred soldiers of the United States Army who perished during the years of 1864 and 1865 well hop held by the Confederate military authorities as prisoners of war in a stockade near this place so just a little more education on exactly what this is so we're talking about the Salisbury prison the Salisbury prison was one of the most notorious civil war prisons when Union soldiers were captured no matter where they were captured they were often brought down to the Salisbury prison sometimes they would go to the Richmond Libby Prison sometimes they would go to the Andersonville Prison but either way this was considered one of the most notorious prisons when they found out they were coming here they often realized they were never going home because of that they often never spoke of home the prisoners would sit just just outside the gates of this cemetery was the back of the prison and the soldiers would often sit and do anything they could to survive but they never talked about home because they really never believed they were going home so basically the prison was designed for 2,500 Union prisoners but because of the way they were capturing soldiers at large numbers large numbers of Union soldiers they just started dumping them in the prisons and so the prison swelled to over ten thousand people at one time it was only designed for 2,500 so they would put out tents for the soldiers the problem is tents were only designed for five people but they would assign ten people per tent oftentimes this meant that these soldiers who were lying in the ground behind me they were left to devise their own way to survive and many times that meant globbing grass shards grabbing glass shards or something like that and digging holes and and what they essentially would do guys they had no clothes they would have their clothes taken away for the most part anything of value they had the Confederate soldiers would take away and what they what they would often do is dig trenches to sleep in it was almost like an early grave and they would dig the trench just to get away from some of the weather but unfortunately oftentimes it didn't do much good these soldiers were not fed a lot of times trains were sent down with supplies to feed them and to nourish the soldiers and and for the most part the Confederate guards would take all of that away and so most of these gentlemen these Union soldiers most of them young boys that are all in the ground behind me died from starvation from weather and diseases and it's very very sad one of the gentlemen was a soldier named Drummond and Drummond was from New York and he essentially he lasted through the end of the war because the prison was destroyed there towards the end and he did make it out and he often came back to this cemetery to relive what happened in those days and so there's books with his reminiscing of this prison in this Cemetery and it's just fascinating and it's hard to even be here and try to put yourself in that mindset and right here are the 18 trenches in this small space the corpses of 11700 Union soldiers are buried nameless many just amazing absolutely amazing to think that right in here are so many dead Union soldiers just dumped in trenches each trench being identified by a marker and there are 18 of them such a sad sad way and if you think about how these people died it's even more sad and there again is the monument from the state of Maine to honor its soldiers that lie on the ground here in this Cemetery the meaning of this passage behind me talking about bribery's and their loyalty comes from the fact that Confederate soldiers and guards would often bribe them to defect to the side of the Confederacy and they would do that by offering them jobs making shoes and buttons and things like that for the Confederate guards almost every time the Union soldiers refused to convert over to the Confederate side it's pretty amazing to stand here in this cemetery and hear the whistle of a train going down the tracks from the very track that was used to bring Union soldiers to most likely their death where they would end up being laid here at Salisbury prison almost every one of these soldiers was brought in on that train track still hard to believe now I was told by our new friend Clyde that there's actually some historical significance to this canal as this canal when all the way into the prison and this canal is often used as a latrine by the Confederate soldiers and guards right up here is the monument from the state of Pennsylvania for its prisoners of war and up on top there is a believe that's bronze at P o W [Music] this right here is a Confederate monument here in Salisbury North Carolina and that is of an angel named fame holding a dying Confederate soldier with a gun in his hand and she is about to place a crown on his head obviously this has some debate going on around here about removing this statue but it's been here since 1908 it was built in 1905 and it still stands today over 100 years later cool tidbit that I did not know Oh church bells President Washington was a visitor in the town of Salisbury May 30th and 31st 1791 [Music] now local to this area our granite quarries and you can see this pink granite which is local here that's actually where the granite for Elvis's grave came from right here now obviously slavery was a big issue here around the time of the civil war and there is a collar for a slave that was owned here in Salisbury North Carolina this milk is from 1857 and it's entitled impending crisis in the south pretty cool and here's an actual uniform from a man named William chambers Coogan Hauer from the Confederate Army he was a guard of the actual Salisbury prison here in town those are his boots that he wore as he guarded the town and his rifle his pistol and another rifle that's history right there so here is an image our drawing of the prison itself and when we were at the the guard tower the guardhouse that's it right there and you can see the train tracks right there that went down just as we saw they go down into a trench and so that's still there today the train tracks are still there today and then yeah and then right across that bridge right there is where the prison entrance is and then the cemetery would be down here and so there was the cotton mill and then you can see all the tents they had out and that is a confederate calendar carried by Confederate soldiers and here to pastime soldiers played with marbles made out of clay here are actual bricks from the prison that's crazy it's from the cotton mill if the only those bricks could speak incredible so this cannon ball here was found on York Hill which is right nearby and it was used to fight off the Union troops and it was one of the last Confederate victories in the Civil War right there early 20th century casket that's all for today folks thank you for tuning in thank you for following explore Charlotte if you haven't yet make sure you click that thumbs up button and click Subscribe so you can be updated anytime we have a new video thank you to connor for joining me and Connor has a YouTube channel so what's the name of your YouTube channel Connor extreme extreme bids with an X we'll put the link down in this video but please give a thumbs up give a like give a share follow us on Facebook thank you guys have a great day [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Concord Relaxations

Views: 13,543

Rating: 4.8457584 out of 5

Keywords: salisbury, salisbury nc, civil war, history, salisbury prison, salisbury national cemetery, north carolina history, charlotte, charlotte nc, vlog, union soldiers, confederate soldiers, confederate, union, war

Id: c9JY7fbDnp4

Length: 19min 20sec (1160 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 28 2019