War of Vengeance : Acts of Retaliation Against Civil War Pows

The American Civil War was a vicious conflict that developed in intense hatred between opposing sides. Despite some historians’ assertions that this was history’s last great “gentlemen’s war,” the conflict was anything but civil. There is ample evidence to suggest that both sides quite commonly retaliated against one another throughout the war, often in chillingly inhumane ways. Violent retaliation was most apparent within Federal and Confederate penitentiaries. Prisoners of war were frequently subjected to both physical and mental abuse. This sort of mistreatment was employed to obtain information, recruit prisoners for military service, or to force prisoners to sign oaths of allegiance. In addition to the torture and neglect that were carried out on a regular basis, even more unbelievable—and less known—was the actual killing of these unarmed men in retribution for their army’s actions on the battlefield. Sometimes it happened as the prisoners threw down their weapons and raised their hands to surrend