Book talk and signing “Yankees in the Hill City: The Union Prisoner of War Camp in Lynchburg, Virginia”

Join us for the FREE presentation by History Professor Dr. Clifton W. Potter on his upcoming book on Lynchburg’s POW camp during the Civil War. Afterwards his book will be available for purchase and he will sign your book.

With three railroads and a canal passing through the city, Lynchburg, Virginia, was a major hospital center during the Civil War, far from the remote battlefields. A transit camp where Union soldiers remained before being paroled or transferred to another prison opened in June 1862 at the Fair Ground, just outside the city limits. Upon arrival, the sick and wounded were assigned to one of the 32 hospitals regardless of the uniform they wore. Union POWs who died were buried in the City Cemetery by the local funeral service, which also carefully recorded their personal data. Local ministers daily performed burial services for all soldiers, regardless of their race or the color of their uniforms, and all their expenses were paid by the Confederate government. This book presents the complete history of this Union POW camp in Lynchburg: the context of its founding, its operations, and its fate after the war. Two appendices present burial records for the POWs and Lynchburg Campaign casualties.

Clifton W. Potter, Jr. graduated from Lynchburg College in 1962 with a B.A. in history, magna cum laude. He was a Fulbright Fellow at Merton College, Oxford, and holds both an M.A. and Ph.D. in history from the University of Virginia. After a teaching career spanning 54 years, he retired from the University of Lynchburg with the rank of professor of history, emeritus.