The New International Encyclopædia/Libby Prison
LIBBY PRISON. A Confederate military
prison during the Civil War, situated in Richmond,
Va. It was a building three stories high
in front and four in the rear, containing six
rooms (excluding the cellar), each about 105
by 45 feet. Before the Civil War it was used
by its owner, a Mr. Libby, as a tobacco
warehouse. It was first used as a prison after the
first battle of Bull Run, and continued to be
thus used until the close of the war. At times
as many as 1200 prisoners were confined there,
most of them being Federal officers. The Confederate
officers in immediate charge were Major
Thomas P. Turner, commander, and Richard Turner,
inspector. The prisoners suffered terribly
from starvation, cold, and other causes, and
many died or had their health permanently
shattered while in confinement. Many attempts at
escape were made, the most famous being that
of February 9, 1864, when 109 prisoners made
their exit through a tunnel 50 feet in length,
which had been laboriously excavated by a small
party of men under Col. Thomas E. Rose. Of
the 109, 48 were recaptured, 2 were accidentally
drowned, and 59 reached the Federal lines.
In 1888-89 the building was taken apart,
carried to Chicago, and there reconstructed. In
September, 1889, many valuable relics having
been stored in it, it was formally opened as
the Libby Prison War Museum.