The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964 Page: 18
672 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
of our honor; and the manner of payment, and the specie value
of their Confederate funds, they left entirely to ourselves.""
For the prisoners at Groce in 1863, the word "exchange" proved
largely a hope. As early as June 26, a group of prisoners under-
took to communicate to the Federal authorities in New Orleans
their fear that they had "been overlooked, possibly forgotten" by
their government. Part of the prisoners had been in captivity
since January 1, 1863," and some were understandably disgusted
that they had not been exchanged. The Confederates told the
prisoners that their own government was at fault. Messages were
sent to a number of Union officers, including the agent of ex-
exchange, without success. In early November, a colonel confined
at Groce inquired even of Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton
why they had not been exchanged.'"
Hopeful news regarding exchange arrived at Camp Groce on
November 16. Major General John B. Magruder, commanding in
Texas, had been instructed by departmental headquarters to send
all enlisted prisoners and the officers of the Harriet Lane to
Shreveport under parole in order that they might be forwarded
to their lines for exchange. Magruder took the occasion to direct
that all remaining officers be sent to Camp Ford prison near
Tyler, Texas. On December 11, 1863, two days after the enlisted
men began their long march to Shreveport, the departure of the
officers completed the evacuation of Groce."
Camp Groce was revived as a place of confinement for Fed-
eral prisoners of war in May, 1864, with the arrival of about one
hundred and fifty army and naval prisoners taken by the Con-
federates at Calcasieu Pass in Louisiana. In August, 1864, 506
prisoners were brought to Groce from Camp Ford.'" For the re-
mainder of the year the suffering of these prisoners seems to have
been severe. One reason was the unhealthiness of Groce during
certain seasons. The prisoners of 1863 had found it so after
"Ilbid., 99.
12Roberts to Irwin, June 26, 1863, Oficial Records, Series II, Vol. VI, 54.
"Colonel Isaac S. Burrell to Edwin M. Stanton, November lo, 1863, ibid., 493-
494; Bosson, Forty-second Massachusetts, 424.
"Ibid., 425; S. S. Anderson to Major General John B. Magruder, November 1o,
1863, with endorsement, Official Records, Series II, Vol. VI, 498.
1"Bellville Countryman, May 17, 1864, p. 1; Official Records, Series I, Vol.
XXXIV, Pt. 1, 913-914; Bringhurst and Swigart, Forty-sixth Indiana, 13o.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 67, July 1963 - April, 1964, periodical, 1964; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101197/m1/36/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.