Elmira Prison was originally a barracks for "Camp Rathbun" or "Camp Chemung", a key muster and training point for the Union Army during the American Civil War, between 1861 and 1864.

It is the mission of the Friends of the Elmira Civil War Prison Camp to protect and preserve the history of the Civil War in Elmira, Chemung County and surrounding areas and to educate the public about that history.

Jul 26, 2014 · Elmira’s Civil War prison camp operated from July 6, 1864, until July 11, 1865, incarcerating a total of 12,121 Confederates. Here are 20 facts about that dark period in the city’s history:

4 days ago · The most notorious camp of the North was located in Elmira, New York where one of the 4 camps that made up the western New York Union Army rendezvous was refitted for use as a prisoner of war camp.

Jul 23, 2021 · Like the other materials at the site, it commemorates the prisoners, the guards, and those Union soldiers who passed through the Elmira recruit depot in 1861 and 1862 on their way to the seat of war.

It was July 1865, and these were the last survivors leaving “Hellmira,” the notorious Civil War prison camp on the banks of the Chemung River. This month—on either July 10 or July 11,...

At the beginning of the Civil War, Elmira had been a military recruiting depot where soldiers attended basic training. Later in the war Elmira was chosen as a draft rendezvous, and then a new prisoner of war camp.

Jul 17, 2008 · Elmira Union Civil War Prison In the summer of 1864, the Federal Government converted Camp #3, also known as Camp Rathbun, into a prison camp for captured Confederate Soldiers.

May 30, 2010 · This was the site of Elmira Prison Camp, established in 1864 to hold Confederate prisoners of the Civil War. When the war started in 1861, it was Barracks No. 3 of the Upstate Draft Rendezvous where Union soldiers were housed and trained.

On July 6, 1864, 400 Confederate prisoners of war marched from Erie Train Station to the camp, becoming the first of 12,123 prisoners held in Elmira. Another 700 Confederate prisoners were being transferred there from Point Lookout, Md., and other overcrowded Federal prisons, Before long, the camp became overcrowded.