Libby Prison Breakout The Daring Escape from the Notorious Civil War Prison

by Wheelan, Joseph

• ISBN13: 9781586489083
• ISBN10: 1586489089
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-05
• Publisher: PublicAffairs

Summary

Libby Prison Breakout tells the largely unknown story of the most important escape of the Civil War from a Confederate prison. Known as the ôThe Bastille of the South,ö Richmond's Libby Prison was home to over a thousand semi-starving Union officers by late 1863. On February 9, 1864, 109 of those officers wriggled through a fifty-five-foot tunnel to freedom. This riveting narrative documents their incredible escape and the all-out Rebel manhunt that ensued-and shows how the testimony of those who survived ultimately spurred a new cycle of retaliation against Rebel captives. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Joseph Wheelan is the author of several previous books, including the highly-acclaimed Terrible Swift Sword and Midnight in the Pacific. Before turning to writing books full time, Wheelan was a reporter and editor for the Associated Press for twenty-four years. He lives in Cary, North Carolina.

Table of Contents

Prologue	p. ix
The Confederate Capital	p. 1
The POW Archipelago	p. 19
Inside Libby Prison	p. 31
The Defiant Colonel	p. 47
Misery and Retaliation	p. 65
Miss Van Lew's Spy Ring	p. 83
The Warrior Schoolteacher	p. 103
Test of Faith	p. 121
General Butler's Raid	p. 129
The Ordeal of Tunnel Four	p. 143
Escape	p. 157
Flight	p. 169
Fallout	p. 193
Epilogue	p. 219
Acknowledgments	p. 231
Notes	p. 233
Bibliography	p. 257
Index	p. 273
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.