
Hellmira
The Union’s Most Infamous Civil War Prison Camp - Elmira, NY: Emerging Civil War Series
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $14.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Andrew Rowe
-
By:
-
Derek Maxfield
About this listen
Long called by some the “Andersonville of the North”, the prisoner of war camp in Elmira, New York, is remembered as the most notorious of all Union-run POW camps. It existed for only a year - from the summer of 1864 to July 1865 - but in that time, and for long after, it became darkly emblematic of man’s inhumanity to man.
Confederate prisoners called it “Hellmira”.
Hastily constructed, poorly planned, and overcrowded, prisoner of war camps North and South were dumping grounds for the refuse of war. An unfortunate necessity, both sides regarded the camps as temporary inconveniences - and distractions from the important task of winning the war. There was no need, they believed, to construct expensive shelters or provide better rations. They needed only to sustain life long enough for the war to be won. Victory would deliver prisoners from their conditions.
As a result, conditions in the prisoner of war camps amounted to a great humanitarian crisis, the extent of which could hardly be understood even after the blood stopped flowing on the battlefields.
In the years after the war, as Reconstruction became increasingly bitter, the North pointed to Camp Sumter -better known as the Andersonville POW camp in Americus, Georgia - as evidence of the cruelty and barbarity of the Confederacy. The South, in turn, cited the camp in Elmira as a place where Union authorities withheld adequate food and shelter and purposefully caused thousands to suffer in the bitter cold. This finger-pointing by both sides would go on for over a century.
And as it did, the legend of Hellmira grew.
In Hellmira: The Union’s Most Infamous Civil War Prison Camp - Elmira, NY, Derek Maxfield contextualizes the rise of prison camps during the Civil War, explores the failed exchange of prisoners, and tells the tale of the creation and evolution of the prison camp in Elmira. In the end, Maxfield suggests that it is time to move on from the blame game and see prisoner of war camps - North and South - as a great humanitarian failure.
©2020 Savas Beatie (P)2020 Savas BeatieListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Great Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign, November 26-December 2, 1863
- Emerging Civil War Series
- By: Chris Mackowski
- Narrated by: Chris Mackowski
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stakes for George Gordon Meade could not have been higher. After his stunning victory at Gettysburg in July of 1863, the Union commander spent the following months trying to bring the Army of Northern Virginia to battle once more and finish the job. The Great Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign, November 26-December 2 1863 recounts the final chapter of the forgotten fall of 1863 - when George Gordon Meade made one final attempt to save the Union and, in doing so, save himself.
By: Chris Mackowski
-
Battle Cry of Freedom
- The Civil War Era
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 39 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Battle Cry of Freedom vividly traces how a new nation was forged when a war both sides were sure would amount to little dragged for four years and cost more American lives than all other wars combined. Narrator Jonathan Davis powerful reading brings to life the many voices of the Civil War.
-
-
Excellent Book
- By J. Weston on 12-11-20
-
KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps
- By: Nikolaus Wachsmann
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 31 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In KL, Wachsmann fills this glaring gap in our understanding. He not only synthesizes a new generation of scholarly work, much of it untranslated and unknown outside of Germany, but also presents startling revelations, based on many years of archival research, about the functioning and scope of the camp system.
-
-
Narrator warning!
- By S R L COTTERILL on 04-24-15
-
The Cornfield
- Antietam's Bloody Turning Point
- By: David A. Welker
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For generations of Americans, the word Antietam - the name of a bucolic stream in western Maryland - held the same sense of horror and carnage that the date 9/11 does for Americans today. But Antietam eclipses even this modern tragedy as America's single bloodiest day, on which 22,000 men became casualties in a war to determine our nation's future.
-
-
Micro history at its finest
- By Amanda Tyler on 04-07-24
By: David A. Welker
-
James Longstreet and the American Civil War
- The Confederate General Who Fought the Next War
- By: Harold M. Knudsen
- Narrated by: Bob Neufeld
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American Civil War is often called the first “modern war.” Sandwiched between the Napoleonic Wars and World War I, it spawned a host of “firsts” and is considered a precursor to the larger and more deadly 20th century wars. Confederate Gen. James Longstreet made overlooked but profound modern contributions to the art of war. Retired Lt. Col. Harold M. Knudsen explains what Longstreet did and how he did it in James Longstreet and the American Civil War: The Confederate General Who Fought the Next War.
-
-
Grandpa reading mushmouth
- By McKinley L. Donnor on 11-20-23
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
-
OUTSTANDING! I'M PROUD TO BE A BLACK AMERICAN!!
- By The Louligan on 08-22-13
By: Shelby Foote
-
The Great Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign, November 26-December 2, 1863
- Emerging Civil War Series
- By: Chris Mackowski
- Narrated by: Chris Mackowski
- Length: 4 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The stakes for George Gordon Meade could not have been higher. After his stunning victory at Gettysburg in July of 1863, the Union commander spent the following months trying to bring the Army of Northern Virginia to battle once more and finish the job. The Great Battle Never Fought: The Mine Run Campaign, November 26-December 2 1863 recounts the final chapter of the forgotten fall of 1863 - when George Gordon Meade made one final attempt to save the Union and, in doing so, save himself.
By: Chris Mackowski
-
Battle Cry of Freedom
- The Civil War Era
- By: James M. McPherson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Davis
- Length: 39 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Battle Cry of Freedom vividly traces how a new nation was forged when a war both sides were sure would amount to little dragged for four years and cost more American lives than all other wars combined. Narrator Jonathan Davis powerful reading brings to life the many voices of the Civil War.
-
-
Excellent Book
- By J. Weston on 12-11-20
-
KL: A History of the Nazi Concentration Camps
- By: Nikolaus Wachsmann
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 31 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In KL, Wachsmann fills this glaring gap in our understanding. He not only synthesizes a new generation of scholarly work, much of it untranslated and unknown outside of Germany, but also presents startling revelations, based on many years of archival research, about the functioning and scope of the camp system.
-
-
Narrator warning!
- By S R L COTTERILL on 04-24-15
-
The Cornfield
- Antietam's Bloody Turning Point
- By: David A. Welker
- Narrated by: L.J. Ganser
- Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For generations of Americans, the word Antietam - the name of a bucolic stream in western Maryland - held the same sense of horror and carnage that the date 9/11 does for Americans today. But Antietam eclipses even this modern tragedy as America's single bloodiest day, on which 22,000 men became casualties in a war to determine our nation's future.
-
-
Micro history at its finest
- By Amanda Tyler on 04-07-24
By: David A. Welker
-
James Longstreet and the American Civil War
- The Confederate General Who Fought the Next War
- By: Harold M. Knudsen
- Narrated by: Bob Neufeld
- Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American Civil War is often called the first “modern war.” Sandwiched between the Napoleonic Wars and World War I, it spawned a host of “firsts” and is considered a precursor to the larger and more deadly 20th century wars. Confederate Gen. James Longstreet made overlooked but profound modern contributions to the art of war. Retired Lt. Col. Harold M. Knudsen explains what Longstreet did and how he did it in James Longstreet and the American Civil War: The Confederate General Who Fought the Next War.
-
-
Grandpa reading mushmouth
- By McKinley L. Donnor on 11-20-23
-
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville
- By: Shelby Foote
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 42 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Civil War: A Narrative, Volume 1 begins one of the most remarkable works of history ever fashioned. All the great battles are here, of course, from Bull Run through Shiloh, the Seven Days Battles, and Antietam, but so are the smaller ones: Ball's Bluff, Fort Donelson, Pea Ridge, Island Ten, New Orleans, and Monitor versus Merrimac.
-
-
OUTSTANDING! I'M PROUD TO BE A BLACK AMERICAN!!
- By The Louligan on 08-22-13
By: Shelby Foote
-
The Heart of Hell
- The Soldiers' Struggle for Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle
- By: Jeffry D. Wert
- Narrated by: Al Kessel
- Length: 9 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The struggle over the fortified Confederate position known as Spotsylvania's Mule Shoe was without parallel during the Civil War. A Union assault that began at 4:30 A.M. on May 12, 1864, sparked brutal combat that lasted nearly twenty-four hours. By the time Grant's forces withdrew, some 55,000 men from Union and Confederate armies had been drawn into the fury, battling in torrential rain along the fieldworks at distances often less than the length of a rifle barrel. One Union private recalled the fighting as a "seething, bubbling, soaring hell of hate and murder."
-
-
The soldier’s’ perspectives
- By Amanda Tyler on 03-01-23
By: Jeffry D. Wert
-
An American Marriage
- The Untold Story of Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd
- By: Michael Burlingame
- Narrated by: Stephen R. Thorne
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on 30 years of research, An American Marriage describes and analyzes why Lincoln had good reason to regret his marriage to Mary Todd. This revealing narrative shows that, as First Lady, Mary Lincoln accepted bribes and kickbacks, sold permits and pardons, engaged in extortion, and peddled influence
-
-
Interesting
- By Frances Hampton on 02-13-22
-
Mr. Lincoln's Army
- By: Bruce Catton
- Narrated by: Kevin T. Collins
- Length: 17 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A magnificent history of the opening years of the Civil War by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Bruce Catton. The first book in Bruce Catton's Pulitzer Prize-winning Army of the Potomac Trilogy, Mr. Lincoln's Army is a riveting history of the early years of the Civil War, when a fledgling Union Army took its stumbling first steps under the command of the controversial general George McClellan.
-
-
Very poor reader with great material
- By L Day on 07-28-16
By: Bruce Catton
-
Washington's Spies
- The Story of America's First Spy Ring
- By: Alexander Rose
- Narrated by: Kevin Pariseau
- Length: 12 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Based on remarkable new research, acclaimed historian Alexander Rose brings to life the true story of the spy ring that helped America win the Revolutionary War. For the first time, Rose takes us beyond the battlefront and deep into the shadowy underworld of double agents and triple crosses, covert operations and code breaking, and unmasks the courageous, flawed men who inhabited this wilderness of mirrors—including the spymaster at the heart of it all.
-
-
Kinda boring
- By Randall on 07-10-19
By: Alexander Rose
-
Forgotten Patriots
- The Untold Story of American Prisoners During the Revolutionary War
- By: Edwin G. Burrows
- Narrated by: Norman Dietz
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Forgotten Patriots is the first-ever account of what took place in these hellholes. The result is a unique perspective on the Revolutionary War as well as a sobering commentary on how Americans have remembered our struggle for independence---and how much we have forgotten.
-
-
Great audiobook
- By Phillip Goodson on 05-15-09
By: Edwin G. Burrows
-
Trail of Hope
- The Anders Army, an Odyssey Across Three Continents
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this remarkable work, renowned historian Professor Norman Davies draws from years of meticulous research to recount the compelling story of the Polish II Corps or "Anders Army", and their exceptional journey from the Gulag of Siberia through Iran, the Middle East, and North Africa to the battlefields of Italy to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Allied forces. Complete with firsthand accounts from the men and women who lived through it, this is a unique record of one of the most fascinating episodes of World War II.
-
-
Amazing story of Polish peoples and never giving up hope for free Poland.
- By Peter Chmiel on 09-24-19
By: Norman Davies
-
38 Nooses
- Lincoln, Little Crow, and the Beginning of the Frontier's End
- By: Scott W. Berg
- Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
- Length: 12 hrs and 34 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In August 1862, after decades of broken treaties, increasing hardship, and relentless encroachment on their lands, a group of Dakota warriors convened a council at the tepee of their leader, Little Crow. Knowing the strength and resilience of the young American nation, Little Crow counseled caution, but anger won the day. Forced to either lead his warriors in a war he knew they could not win or leave them to their fates, he declared, "[Little Crow] is not a coward: he will die with you."
-
-
Powerful condemnation of Manifest Destiny
- By Buretto on 09-26-19
By: Scott W. Berg
-
Stealing the General
- The Great Locomotive Chase and the First Medal of Honor
- By: Russell S. Bonds
- Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
- Length: 15 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
On April 12, 1862—one year to the day after Confederate guns opened on Fort Sumter and started the Civil War—a tall, mysterious smuggler and self-appointed Union spy named James J. Andrews and 19 infantry volunteers infiltrated Georgia and stole a steam engine called the General. Racing northward at speeds near 60 miles an hour, cutting telegraph lines, and destroying track along the way, Andrews planned to open East Tennessee to the Union army, cutting off men and materiel from the Confederate forces in Virginia.
-
-
Stealing The General
- By Jean on 10-15-11
By: Russell S. Bonds
-
Revolutionary
- George Washington at War
- By: Robert L. O'Connell
- Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From an acclaimed military historian, a bold reappraisal of young George Washington, an ambitious if reckless soldier destined to become the legendary general who took on the British and, through his leadership, defined the American character.
-
-
Interesting
- By Shielding C on 06-25-22
-
The Tragedy of Benedict Arnold
- An American Life
- By: Joyce Lee Malcolm
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Proud and talented, history now remembers this conflicted man solely through the lens of his last desperate act of treason. Yet the fall of Benedict Arnold remains one of the Revolutionary period's great puzzles. Why did a brilliant military commander, who repeatedly risked his life fighting the British, who was grievously injured in the line of duty, and fell into debt personally funding his own troops, ultimately became a traitor to the patriot cause?
-
-
good story....questionable performance
- By Amazon Customer on 07-12-19
-
Reveille in Washington
- By: Margaret Leech
- Narrated by: Grace Conlin
- Length: 21 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Margaret Leech’s Pulitzer Prize-winning history paints a wonderfully vivid and lively picture of Washington, DC, during the Civil War. In addition to the major events and figures such as Lincoln, Leech uses telling anecdotes and draws upon cameo players such as Louisa May Alcott, Walt Whitman, Andrew Carnegie, and a Confederate lady spy to create a living portrait of a sleepy, unfinished city as it struggles to become the strong capital of a united nation.
-
-
Good book, poor read
- By JC on 08-10-20
By: Margaret Leech
-
A Year in the South: 1865
- The True Story of Four Ordinary People Who Lived Through the Most Tumultuous Twelve Months in History
- By: Stephen V. Ash
- Narrated by: Neal Ghant, Nicholas Techosky, Jeremy Arthur, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A slave determined to gain freedom, a widow battling poverty and despair, a man of God grappling with spiritual and worldly troubles, and a former Confederate soldier seeking a new life. They lived in the South during 1865 - a year that saw war, disunion, and slavery give way to peace, reconstruction, and emancipation. Between January and December 1865, these four people witnessed, from very different vantage points, the death of the Old South and the birth of the New South. Civil War historian Stephen V. Ash reconstructs their daily lives, their fears and hopes, and their frustrations and triumphs in vivid detail.
-
-
Excellent audio book
- By Rodney on 10-29-13
By: Stephen V. Ash
What listeners say about Hellmira
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Judith Richards
- 12-16-24
Northern Prison camp
Full of interesting information about Union prison camps. Appendices added additional interesting info. Enjoyed the reading. Well done.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!