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Civil War America
The Yankee Plague: Escaped Union Prisoners and the Collapse of the Confederacy
During the winter of 1864, more than 3,000 Federal prisoners of war escaped from Confederate prison camps into South Carolina and North Carolina, often with the aid of local slaves. Their flight created, in the words of contemporary observers, a "Yankee plague," heralding a grim end to the Confederate cause. In this fascinating look at Union soldiers' flight for freedom in the last months of the Civil War, Lorien Foote reveals new connections between the collapse of the Confederate prison system, the large-scale escape of Union soldiers, and the full unraveling of the Confederate States of America. By this point in the war, the Confederacy was reeling from prison overpopulation, a crumbling military, violence from internal enemies, and slavery's breakdown. The fugitive Federals moving across the countryside in mass numbers, Foote argues, accelerated the collapse as slaves and deserters decided the presence of these men presented an opportune moment for escalated resistance.
Blending rich analysis with an engaging narrative, Foote uses these ragged Union escapees as a lens with which to assess the dying Confederate States, providing a new window into the South's ultimate defeat.
Blending rich analysis with an engaging narrative, Foote uses these ragged Union escapees as a lens with which to assess the dying Confederate States, providing a new window into the South's ultimate defeat.
232 pages, Hardcover
Published November 7, 2016
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About the author
Lorien Foote
10 books7 followersLorien Foote is the Patricia & Bookman Peters Professor in History and author of four books, including Rites of Retaliation, winner of the 2022 OAH Civil War and Reconstruction Book Award. She co-edited The Oxford Handbook of the American Civil War and leads the Digital Humanities Project “Fugitive Federals,” mapping escaped Union POWs’ movements.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
January 23, 2022
The inmates are escaping the asylum. A great slice of little known or researched Civil War history.
Foote's 2016 "Yankee Plague" approaches the decline of the Confederate war effort from multiple angles (the collapse of slavery, state governments, and the Confederate government in toto) through the lense of escaped Federal prisoners and it's fascinating at every turn.
Most ACW prisoners of war discussions deal with the notorious prison in Andersonville, Georgia. Here, however, Foote shows how the decision to house Union soldiers in open field camps in North and South Carolina, combined with a VERY lax parole system, led to approximately 3000 (an entire brigade-sized element) escaping. That Union soldiers go out to collect firewood then simply keep walking is an indication of how curious the notion of parole in the Civil War was (i.e. a promise on one's honor not to return to the fight - a true relic of the 19th century).
Through journals and other contemporary sources, Foote follows several escaped prisoners as they navigate southern swamps, Home Guard patrols, sympathetic Southern citizens, and slaves in their attempts to make it back to Union lines. Some fled outright, while other groups of prisoners took a more leisurely approach, forming gangs of up to 50 men to plunder the countryside as they made their way north.
The fact that you could have so many escaped prisoners causing such widespread havoc is, per Foote, one reason why the social order necessary to maintain a wartime home front was rapidly breaking down. That, combined with Sherman marching through the South and the Confederate cause faltering in multiple other areas helps give a more complete view to the story of the fall of the Confederacy -- in part from "within."
Foote's 2016 "Yankee Plague" approaches the decline of the Confederate war effort from multiple angles (the collapse of slavery, state governments, and the Confederate government in toto) through the lense of escaped Federal prisoners and it's fascinating at every turn.
Most ACW prisoners of war discussions deal with the notorious prison in Andersonville, Georgia. Here, however, Foote shows how the decision to house Union soldiers in open field camps in North and South Carolina, combined with a VERY lax parole system, led to approximately 3000 (an entire brigade-sized element) escaping. That Union soldiers go out to collect firewood then simply keep walking is an indication of how curious the notion of parole in the Civil War was (i.e. a promise on one's honor not to return to the fight - a true relic of the 19th century).
Through journals and other contemporary sources, Foote follows several escaped prisoners as they navigate southern swamps, Home Guard patrols, sympathetic Southern citizens, and slaves in their attempts to make it back to Union lines. Some fled outright, while other groups of prisoners took a more leisurely approach, forming gangs of up to 50 men to plunder the countryside as they made their way north.
The fact that you could have so many escaped prisoners causing such widespread havoc is, per Foote, one reason why the social order necessary to maintain a wartime home front was rapidly breaking down. That, combined with Sherman marching through the South and the Confederate cause faltering in multiple other areas helps give a more complete view to the story of the fall of the Confederacy -- in part from "within."
December 7, 2022
The Yankee Plague is the fascinating account of how some 4,700 escaped Union prisoners caused chaos and contributed the collapse of the Confederacy in North and South Carolina ahead of Sherman's March to the Sea. Despite being hunted by some (usually white) locals, they were also actively assisted by others (usually black freedmen or slaves, though a number of white women and children also assisted for various reasons), thus highlighting fault lines in loyalties and illustrating to those on the 'home front' that the Confederacy could not actually govern or secure the area. I picked up this book purely to finish my alphabet challenge (a title starting with Y was the only one I still needed), but ended up enjoying it a lot more than I thought going in. This is a book I would recommend, especially to those interested in Civil War history.
June 21, 2017
And the same goes for my friend Lorien Foote: I checked out her book from the library rather than pay the $24.17 to buy it. But I am glad I read this book as well because she gives a fresh perspective to the last months of the Civil War. Rather than rehashing the oft told stories of the soldiers in armies, she focuses on escaped Union prisoners and explains what their experiences can tell us about the last months of the Confederacy in terms of the help they received from slaves, the collapse of state authority, the botched Confederate attempts to maintain their prisoners, and more. She clearly has a strong sense of the state of Civil War literature (she explains that scholars have neglected to consider how the Confederacy's treatment of prisoners of war affected its military campaigns) and as a result is able to make a fresh contribution.
November 13, 2020
Having read some of the author's previous scholarship I had mixed expectations, in that I expected to be informed but not necessarily engaged. I was pleased to discover that I was actually entertained, as the memoirs of the Union escaped prisoners give real dash to an analysis of the Confederacy's sociological and political collapse in 1864-1865. The real heroes and heroines coming out of this story are the slaves and white loyalist women who put their lives on the line on a regular basis for the sake of those escaping the reach of Confederate governance. As for Foote's epilogue regarding this maelstrom, while she finds little sense of organized Confederate malice against its prisoners, you couldn't tell this to the actual prisoners who survived, and their embittered remembrances created the traditional "Andersonville" narrative. Foote also has the sense that the whole structure and logistics of the Confederate and Union POW systems, and the entailed costs, are worthy of further examination.
December 10, 2021
There are numerous stories of Allied soldiers escaping POW camps in World War II but you never really hear about it from the Civil War. Andersonville is the image that pops into people's heads. This would be due to the publicity given to it after the war, and its propaganda usefulness for the radical republicans advocacy for a hard peace.
Lorien Foote has come up with an interesting refreshing look at prisoners of the Confederacy during the Civil War. His complete focus is on the years 1864-1865 when the Confederacy was collapsing under the strain of the war. Using diaries kept by men who escaped we get an image of a south that is far from united, suffering manpower shortages, dealing with a large 5th column in the image of their slaves and a people who are tired and ready for the war to end. The organization and authority of the Confederate government and the state governments fell on deaf ears, and was increasingly out of step with reality. They were proving to be incapable of handling their tasks.
It is a bit surprising that some of the prison camps were so ill prepared they had no fencing. The manpower shortage and the growing belligerence of the slaves made getting jobs done difficult. In late 1864 there was a mass prison break and American soldiers were all over Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, as one resident called it - a Yankee Plague. As we follow these escapees it is noted that they relied on slaves and freedmen for help and a surprising number of whites especially in the mountainous areas of the south. There were whites who also helped in areas one would not expect.
Foote takes on these journeys through Confederate pickets and gangs of confederate deserters. The territory to be crossed for freedom for the escapees leads them to go northwest to Eastern Tennessee or south, a much more dangerous route, to Savannah and or Sherman's army. The complete lack of authority over this area is striking. Each state is begging Lee for their troops back and Lee refuses leaving a vacuum. Lee's stand likely lead to more desertions as many of those soldier saw their place as protecting their family and home and not Petersburg. This had the effect of shortening the war.
The escapee stories were big sellers during and after the war with the south looking like a barbarian land where force is one's only tool. These stories then got lost with the growth of the Lost Cause narrative of the Civil War story. The prison escapes don't fit into that narrative at all. That is why Lorien Foote's book here is a nice addition to modern scholarship. He brings back the old stories and shows the Confederacy for what it really was at this point in the war, a dying nation with many of its residents helping end it. I think every Civil War buff will truly enjoy this book.
Lorien Foote has come up with an interesting refreshing look at prisoners of the Confederacy during the Civil War. His complete focus is on the years 1864-1865 when the Confederacy was collapsing under the strain of the war. Using diaries kept by men who escaped we get an image of a south that is far from united, suffering manpower shortages, dealing with a large 5th column in the image of their slaves and a people who are tired and ready for the war to end. The organization and authority of the Confederate government and the state governments fell on deaf ears, and was increasingly out of step with reality. They were proving to be incapable of handling their tasks.
It is a bit surprising that some of the prison camps were so ill prepared they had no fencing. The manpower shortage and the growing belligerence of the slaves made getting jobs done difficult. In late 1864 there was a mass prison break and American soldiers were all over Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, as one resident called it - a Yankee Plague. As we follow these escapees it is noted that they relied on slaves and freedmen for help and a surprising number of whites especially in the mountainous areas of the south. There were whites who also helped in areas one would not expect.
Foote takes on these journeys through Confederate pickets and gangs of confederate deserters. The territory to be crossed for freedom for the escapees leads them to go northwest to Eastern Tennessee or south, a much more dangerous route, to Savannah and or Sherman's army. The complete lack of authority over this area is striking. Each state is begging Lee for their troops back and Lee refuses leaving a vacuum. Lee's stand likely lead to more desertions as many of those soldier saw their place as protecting their family and home and not Petersburg. This had the effect of shortening the war.
The escapee stories were big sellers during and after the war with the south looking like a barbarian land where force is one's only tool. These stories then got lost with the growth of the Lost Cause narrative of the Civil War story. The prison escapes don't fit into that narrative at all. That is why Lorien Foote's book here is a nice addition to modern scholarship. He brings back the old stories and shows the Confederacy for what it really was at this point in the war, a dying nation with many of its residents helping end it. I think every Civil War buff will truly enjoy this book.
January 4, 2024
I purchased my copy of this book in trade paperback at the gift store in the CSS Neuse Civil War Commemorative Center in Kinston, NC when visiting the area in November 2021. This book covers events in late 1864 and early 1865 in North and South Carolina, when the Confederate military and civil government were collapsing, the Union army was invading on multiple fronts, and the entire region descended into chaos. Added to this already volatile situation was the presence of hundreds of escaped Union prisoners of war, most of whom simply walked through the porous boundaries of Confederate POW camps unchallenged and unmolested. These men, most of who had already suffered great privation at the hands of their captors, faced multiple dangers and mental challenges as they sought to return to the Union army lines in Tennessee, Georgia, and the Carolina coast. Prior to reading this I had no idea of the lawlessness that pervaded the Carolinas late in the war. The escaped Yankee POWs staggered into an area where the local population was divided among a bewildering variety of tangled and overlapping loyalties: roving bands of Confederate army deserters, private citizen militias, criminals, brigands, Union sympathizers, die-hard Rebels, and escaped slaves, to name just a few. To make it to safety they had to find guides, shelter and sustenance, and most found it among the local slave population. This book tells of a chapter of Civil War history that was entirely new to me, and I found it quite interesting. Four out of five stars.
January 4, 2020
Very interesting! I have not read much about the US Civil War, but it seems the focus of most war books—including the Civil War—is on Great Leaders, Great Campaigns, Socio and Political issues, etc. This book entirely skirts all that and focuses on grunt soldiers escaping POW camps (or in many cases being abandoned by the Confederacy in these camps) and their struggles to return to the North. The focus is generally on the winter of 1864-1865 when the South is collapsing and almost entirely on the Appalachia region (north Georgia, the western Carolinas, eastern Tennessee). Again, I haven’t read much Civil War, but more broadly I find the experiences of civilians and the common “foot soldiers” to be more compelling than those books and movies about famous leaders and/or big campaigns. Furthermore those days, weeks, and months where the cause is lost and order no longer exists is particularly compelling. This book definitely fits my interest with its focus on the common man near the end of that war. I should also add that Foote is a history professor at Texas A&M. I have met her through a mutual friend, but I do not know her. For a Civil war buff or a history buff, well worth reading.
May 11, 2018
Excellent introduction and good book. It’s a fast read (it took me longer because I was sick) and there are some great stories, even a few that made me laugh. I could imagine a compelling movie made of the various adventures endured by Federal soldiers escaped from Confederate prisons. I especially appreciated how Chapter Four showed the complex nature of the Civil War in regions of the South where neighbors fought neighbors and family members had to lie to each other within a single household. People tend to think of the areas of Confederate rebellion as monolithic, but that was not the case. The author reveals secret Unionist societies, women’s crucial roles in aiding both rebel deserters and fugitive federals, and the essential help of black people who were staunchly pro-Union and eager for freedom. Those interested in Civil War history should read this.
April 5, 2021
This book addresses a unique aspect of the civil war that is not commonly discussed in the numerous books written on the war. It deals with the fate of the union soldiers that were prisoners of war near the end of the war. The book covers how as the confederacy breaks down union soldiers, who were prisoners of the confederacy, tried to escaped and make their way North to union lines. The book follows a number of parties of escapees and the people they met and were helped by along the way. It is written as a first person account. The book itself is well written and provides a vivid account of their journey North. I would highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in the civil war period. It provides an excellent account of the people who lived during that time.
January 27, 2024
That title would make one think this book is critical of Union prisoners who, in the waning days of the Civil War, escaped and wandered the South in search of food and a way home. It is not derogatory of those men.
It IS a moving tribute to the pro-union southerners, slaves, and other sympathetic southerners who took great risks in assisting these abused, diseased and starved men. It’s a tribute to the men themselves, who showed extraordinary endurance.
The book also gives a look at the chaotic and incompetent final days of the Confederacy.
For fans of Civil War literature and history, this book is indispensable.
It IS a moving tribute to the pro-union southerners, slaves, and other sympathetic southerners who took great risks in assisting these abused, diseased and starved men. It’s a tribute to the men themselves, who showed extraordinary endurance.
The book also gives a look at the chaotic and incompetent final days of the Confederacy.
For fans of Civil War literature and history, this book is indispensable.
July 10, 2023
Compelling, well-written, and expertly researched.
Dr. Foote's claims are well supported, so regardless of the reader's opinions on the collapse of the Confederacy, they have to admit that she makes a strong and substantiated historical case. Though steeped in facts and archival support, the book remains engaging, and balances well the educational aspects with keeping the reader interested and wanting to read more. Foote does an excellent job of bringing the humanity of the story to the forefront.
4/5 stars for being one of the best historical nonfiction books I've read. The only reason I'm keeping this from a 5/5 is that I haven't read many books in this genre, so I'm not sure how it stacks up in that regard. However, I reserve the right to improve my rating later, should this change.
Dr. Foote's claims are well supported, so regardless of the reader's opinions on the collapse of the Confederacy, they have to admit that she makes a strong and substantiated historical case. Though steeped in facts and archival support, the book remains engaging, and balances well the educational aspects with keeping the reader interested and wanting to read more. Foote does an excellent job of bringing the humanity of the story to the forefront.
4/5 stars for being one of the best historical nonfiction books I've read. The only reason I'm keeping this from a 5/5 is that I haven't read many books in this genre, so I'm not sure how it stacks up in that regard. However, I reserve the right to improve my rating later, should this change.
March 22, 2020
This is a very interesting book. I have read a lot about the Civil War. Most of them deal with specific campaigns, battles, incidents, or individuals. I have even read several books about POWs and escapees, but I have never seen one that dealt with the of the prisoner of war camps in this manner. The book seems well researched and the topic is one that needs more attention. The only fault I found with the book is that it was a bit dry and could have been a bit more organized.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War and looking for a new perspective on things.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Civil War and looking for a new perspective on things.
February 15, 2024
This is a odd mix of dry scholarly detail with a narrative story to bring the details together. I could not get into the story though, it was too confusing to follow but fairly eventful. It seem to just cover a very small region in North Carolina and east Tennessee so not sure how representative it was.
May 26, 2022
This was interesting. It says lots of things that other books about the war don't rather than just repeating them.
August 29, 2023
An untold story that has remained untold for legitimate reasons.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews