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Life and Death in Civil War Prisons: The Parallel Torments of Corporal John Wesly Minnich, C.S.A. and Sergeant Warren Lee Goss, U.S.A
More than anything, Civil War soldiers feared becoming a prisoner of war. Among the deadliest prisons for Confederates was Rock Island Prison in Illinois. One of the most notorious for Northern prisoners was Georgia's Camp Sumter – better known as Andersonville. Dysentery, starvation, exposure to harsh weather, and brutal mistreatment killed more men in prisons than were killed at Gettysburg, the war's deadliest battle.
The gruesome reality of Civil War prison life is found in the personal stories of those who suffered it. Two such victims were Corporal John Wesley Minnich – a Southern teenager from Louisiana – and Sergeant Warren Lee Goss of Massachusetts. In Life and Death in Civil War Prisons, these two common soldiers become uncommon symbols of the largely untold under-life of the American Civil War. It is a penetrating, unforgettable portrait of the worst of the war – the military prisons of the North and the South. The book strips the war of its romance and pageantry. What is left is the hardship and horror of the war – and the extraordinary courage of American soldiers from both North and South.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published March 22, 2004
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About the author
J. Michael Martinez
20 books3 followersThere is more than one author with this name
J. Michael Martinez began his career in the private practice of law. He later earned a Ph.D. in political science and a second Ph.D. in public administration. Martinez’s scholarly work has appeared in numerous academic publications, including Administration & Society; The American Review of Public Administration; The Georgia Historical Quarterly; The Journal of Environment & Development; The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy; The Journal of Policy History; Nonprofit Management & Leadership; Politics & Policy; and The South Dakota Law Review, among others. He also has co-edited and contributed chapters to three academic texts: Ethics and Character: The Pursuit of Democratic Virtues (Carolina Academic Press, 1998); Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South (University Press of Florida, 2000); and The Leviathan’s Choice: Capital Punishment in the Twenty-first Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). He has written three books on Southern history: Life and Death in Civil War Prisons (Rutledge Hill Press, 2004), a selection of the History Book Club; Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire During Reconstruction ( Rowman & Littlefield, 2007); and Coming for to Carry Me Home: Race in America from Abolitionism to Jim Crow (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012). His other books include Administrative Ethics in the Twenty-first Century (with William D. Richardson; Peter Lang Publishers, 2008), Public Administration Ethics for the Twenty-first Century (Praeger, 2009), and Terrorist Attacks on American Soil: From the Civil War Era to the Present (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012).
Since 1992, Martinez has worked in the Government Affairs & Environment Department at Dart Container Corporation, a leading manufacturer of disposable foodservice products. During the 1990s, he taught political science at Georgia State University and environmental law at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. He now teaches political science, criminal justice, and public administration courses as a part-time faculty member at Kennesaw State University, the University of South Dakota, and the University of Georgia, respectively. From 1988 until 1992, he was on the staff of the Southern States Energy Board, a non-profit interstate compact organization that researches energy and environmental laws and regulations.
J. Michael Martinez began his career in the private practice of law. He later earned a Ph.D. in political science and a second Ph.D. in public administration. Martinez’s scholarly work has appeared in numerous academic publications, including Administration & Society; The American Review of Public Administration; The Georgia Historical Quarterly; The Journal of Environment & Development; The Journal of Medicine and Philosophy; The Journal of Policy History; Nonprofit Management & Leadership; Politics & Policy; and The South Dakota Law Review, among others. He also has co-edited and contributed chapters to three academic texts: Ethics and Character: The Pursuit of Democratic Virtues (Carolina Academic Press, 1998); Confederate Symbols in the Contemporary South (University Press of Florida, 2000); and The Leviathan’s Choice: Capital Punishment in the Twenty-first Century (Rowman & Littlefield, 2002). He has written three books on Southern history: Life and Death in Civil War Prisons (Rutledge Hill Press, 2004), a selection of the History Book Club; Carpetbaggers, Cavalry, and the Ku Klux Klan: Exposing the Invisible Empire During Reconstruction ( Rowman & Littlefield, 2007); and Coming for to Carry Me Home: Race in America from Abolitionism to Jim Crow (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012). His other books include Administrative Ethics in the Twenty-first Century (with William D. Richardson; Peter Lang Publishers, 2008), Public Administration Ethics for the Twenty-first Century (Praeger, 2009), and Terrorist Attacks on American Soil: From the Civil War Era to the Present (Rowman & Littlefield, 2012).
Since 1992, Martinez has worked in the Government Affairs & Environment Department at Dart Container Corporation, a leading manufacturer of disposable foodservice products. During the 1990s, he taught political science at Georgia State University and environmental law at Atlanta’s John Marshall Law School. He now teaches political science, criminal justice, and public administration courses as a part-time faculty member at Kennesaw State University, the University of South Dakota, and the University of Georgia, respectively. From 1988 until 1992, he was on the staff of the Southern States Energy Board, a non-profit interstate compact organization that researches energy and environmental laws and regulations.
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January 27, 2017
History of two prisoners of war, one from the North and one from the South. Both men described their experiences in post war books. The author compares and contrasts their experiences giving the reader a good overview of Civil War prisons. A man must have hope to live in such desparate circumstances.
Displaying 1 of 1 review