Item 1

Scope and Contents note This anonymous letter, written December 18, 1864, by an inmate of Libby Prison in Richmond, Virginia and addressed to United States Senator William Wright of New Jersey, is an urgent plea for the senator’s intercession in obtaining the inmate’s exchange for a Confederate officer imprisoned for an unknown offence in West Virginia and for whom he himself is being held hostage, and his release from prison. The writer describes his failing health after several months as a general prisoner of war...