From A Prisoner of War in Virginia
© 2000 ProofmarkPreface
Born in London, England on April 2, 1844, George Haven Putnam was barely seventeen when the Civil War began, the son of a wealthy publisher and by then a resident of New York. Enlisting as a private in Company E of the 176th New York Infantry in December of 1862, Putnam mustered into service just as the regiment was forming. In early January of 1863 the 176th New York sailed for New Orleans, recaptured in May of 1862 by troops under Major General Benjamin Franklin Butler, and he spent over a year engaged in its defense.
He was promoted to Quartermaster-Sergeant in January, and during the summer of 1863 became a prisoner for a month after a skirmish at Brashear City, Louisiana; that short captivity was only a prelude to his bitter experiences in Virginia the following year. He was promoted to 1st Lieutenant in December, and then made an Adjutant in March of 1864.
The regiment was transferred to Virginia in July of 1864, and served in Sherman's Shenandoah Valley campaign throughout that Fall. Taken prisoner during the Battle of Cedar Creek near Middletown, Virginia in October, Putnam was moved to Richmond within four days. Made a Captain [in absentia] in December, he was soon transferred to Danville, where he spent the long and cold winter observing the daily life of the 350 prisoners with whom he shared the prison. He was paroled in February of 1865, and was one of several officers in charge of the exchange of prisoners in March.
During the war the 176th New York lost, to wounds or disease, four officers and [coincidentally] 176 enlisted men. It is a testament to both their youth and fortitude that Putnam and many of his fellow prisoners were not among those numbers.
Following service with the 176th in North Carolina, he resigned in May of 1865 and went home to New York. Breveted as a Major for his service and his incarceration, Putnam became a noted author; his works covered religion, medieval history, and aspects of the War, including a book on Lincoln. As a publisher he continued the family business, which still operates in New York City today.
After the initial surprise of finding Putnam's book in an obscure bookshop on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, reading it was a delight. Using vivid language, not the turgid phrasing more typical of 19th Century writers, he presents a clear image of the terrible conditions in Southern prisons late in the War. Though some apologists may try to compare the plight of Southern soldiers in Northern camps [see Appendix A for a sense of the real difference], the toll taken on those confined at Libby and Danville, let alone those in the horrors of Andersonville, by bitter and heartless policies set at the highest levels of the Confederacy, can only shame the memories of those honorable men who fought in gray uniforms.
Mark Wilson Seymour, editor
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