Download Oath of Loyalty

Oath of Loyalty
The Story of Private John King, Confederate Prisoner at Elmira, New York
Before the Civil War, John King lived in what was then Marion County, Virginia. His family were
“Democrats” who had voted against Lincoln, in what was a pro-Union area. They were pro-Union
as well until Virginia seceded after which they were in the minority and faced much hostility
from their neighbors. When the area was occupied in July 1862 by the Union Army, John King,
his parents, and his younger brother Cyrus were forced to take an oath of loyalty to the United
States by the troops of General Rosencrans.
After living under Union occupation for 10 Months, John and his brother made their way south
into “Dixie” to volunteer with the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commanded by Robert
E. Lee just after the battle of Chancellorsville. Assigned to the 25th Virginia Infantry they saw
a great deal of combat during Lee’s Gettysburg campaign where Cyrus was severely wounded
near the Little Round Top and had to be left behind as a prisoner in the care of the Union Army.
Private John King was then captured by Union troops during the Battles of the Wilderness in
May 1864.
Private King was transported to the Point Lookout Prison Camp on Chesapeake Bay in Maryland
where he was detained for 2 months. In July, 1864 the Confederate POW’s at Point Lookout
were offered their freedom in exchange for taking an oath of loyalty to the United States.
300 did, and were escorted from the camp. Private King and others who refused were then
shipped north by steamer and railway to the Prison Camp at Elmira New York. The first fellow
Confederates they met were the group from Point Lookout who had taken the oath of loyalty
and were nonetheless kept prisoners.
Elmira was one of the worst of the Northern Prison camps. Like many others, it was not
originally set up to house the great numbers of prisoners who were sent. Eventually over
30,000 confederates were detained of whom almost 3000 perished. Like his fellow prisoners,
Private King suffered from cold, hunger, malnutrition, illness, boredom, lack of contact with
home and harsh discipline. Where Union guards weren’t outright hostile, the contractors who
provided the food, clothing, and shelter cut corners for profit at the prisoner’s expense. Still,
some prisoners seemed to fare better than others.
In Private King’s words: “I do not want to leave the impression that every prisoner was
sick, poor, ragged and weak like the majority of us, for there were many who escaped
sickness and numbers who were kept at detail work. Those who worked were fed much
better…”
The key to getting work was cooperation- starting by voluntarily taking an oath of loyalty to the
United States. Work would lead to wages, better treatment, and more control over one’s own
destiny.
In his words: “We never saw any money but there was a Sutler store inside the pen where
we made our purchases. First we ascertained how much to our credit by examining the big
book, then a clerk filled out an order blank something like this: ‘Let J. R. King have 15
cts in apples, 10 cts cabbage, 20cts onions, 10 cts on flour , and so on. After receiving
the articles, we balanced the account to see how much was left to our credit. We had
but little money and prices were high; flour five cents per pound, meal the same, onions
15 cents a pound, cabbage 10 cents, small apples one cent each, tobacco 15 cents for a
small thin plug, and the man charged to suit himself… Everything was so high at the
Sutler store we could not get much but it helped to keep the wolf from the door. Some
of the prisoners bouth and made much for sale so for five cents one could be satisfied for
a while. A market place was located near one end of the cookhouse where the prisoners
congregated on certain days and tried to sell numberless things to one and another. They
sold rings, watch charms and many other trinkets made by the prisoners and besides these
men would cry their articles on the market. Some tried to sell eatables…many traded
rations. Money was too scarce with which to make purchases. Hunger often caused
people to do desperate things… Many men, once strong would cry for something to eat. I
know from experience. I know from experience. A few more of us could have worked in
the carpenter shop if we (would) take the oath of allegiance to the United States… our
wages would have been 5 and 10 cents per day according to our capabilities…”
If you were Private King, what would you do ?
Other Perspectives to Consider
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Union Guards
The U.S. Government
Northern Civilians in Elmira
Other Confederate POW’s
Private King’s Family
Private King’s Younger Brother Cyrus
Guiding Questions
1. Why had Private King volunteered to serve in the Confederate Army ?
2. How long had he lived in “Occupied” Virginia?
3. How long had he served in the military before being captured?
4. What sorts of experiences in the military, in combat, and in the field might have prepared
him for the conditions he faced in military prison ?
5. Why would conditions in New York be harder on a southerner than conditions in Maryland?
6. Why might Private King be suspicious of the offer to take an oath of loyalty to the United
States ?
Accompanying Image / Caption
“Day Sentry” Image from http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/elmiraprison/index.html
Elmira Prison Camp shown as it was when Private King arrived on August 1st, 1864. Many
prisoners were housed in tents until December when sufficient barracks had been built- as seen
to the rear. In Private King’s words, “The prison at Elmira consisted of thirty six acres
enclosed by a wall constructed in the same way as Point Lookout Prison. It was located a short
distance from the Chemung River in Chemung County, New York… In our pen there was a body of
water within banks very much like a river which occasionally became high. The North side of
this body of water had a much higher bank than the South side. Next to the river it became
stagnated in the warm season and was not healthful… It was a pleasant summer prison for the
southern soldiers, but an excellent place for them to find their graves in the winter… We lived
in low tents for the first three months, there being no houses and we often suffered with cold.
The manager arranged the building of the houses two months after our arrival and they were
completed near Christmas.”
An alternative image might be the following :
“DOC Monument” Image from
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/elmiraprison/index.html
Caption: This is the monument placed in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira by the Daughters of the
Confederation organization to honor the 2973 Confederate soldiers who perished in Elmira
Prison camp and were buried here by Sexton John W. Jones, (Jones was a former runaway
slave who helped 800 others escape on the Underground RR and then during the Civil War
ensured a proper burial for Confederate Soldiers. His memorial in the cemetery reads, “ He
risked his life to escape bondage, then dedicated his life to bury those who might enslave him”)
Sources
http://www.angelfire.com/ny5/elmiraprison/index.html
Elmira Prison Camp OnLine Library
Personal Information:
My Experiences in the Confederate Army and in Northern Prisons by John R. King
[Reprinted 1994 by great-granddaughter of John R. King, Martha Stump Benson, 5937 Center Road, State
Route 7, Conneaut, Ohio 44030 TEL: 1-440-594-4775]
MY EXPERIENCE
In the Confederate Army and in Northern Prisons
WRITTEN FROM MEMORY
BY
JOHN R. KING
STONEWELL JACKSON CHAPTER
No. 1333
UNITED DAUGHTERS OF CONFEDERACY
CLARKSBURG, W. VA. Copyrighted 1917
Epilogue to the Story (to be included later with epilogues to the other stories)
Private King refused to take an oath of loyalty and continued to suffer through his confinement
at Elmira. He survived a flood of the Chemung river which encompassed the camp. He was once
disciplined by being required to wear a “barrel shirt” for disobeying instructions from a Yankee
guard during the work to rebuild the camp which followed the flood. Sickness and exposure
continued to claim lives through the Spring of 1865 when the war ended. After Lee’s surrender,
the Confederate Prisoners were treated more humanely until the last were released and sent
home – expenses paid, by the U.S. government in July 1865 upon their taking of that oath of
loyalty to the United States. John’s brother Cyrus also survived the war arriving home to what
was then West Virginia at the end of June, 1865.
On the subject of the oath of loyalty, Private King had the following to say,
“It was all right to take the oath of allegiance to the United States as we did after we
had no Southern Confederacy… I am proud to say that I never even though of taking and
oath of that kind until Lee had surrendered and the war was ended. Then it was
necessary to take the oath to get home… I am proud to say that I once belonged to the
Army of Northern Virginia and marched and fought under the illustrious Robert E. Lee…
We started out for what we though was right and stayed with it faithfully to the bitter
end.”
John R. King recollected his story in 1916 at the age of 74 years old- with his brother Cyrus
beside him upon the request of his cousin, Mrs. George C. Stone of Clarksburg, West Virginia
who was then President of the Stonewall Jackson Chapter of the United Daughters of the
Confederacy.