CIVIL DISCOURSE, JUNE 1865 In June of 1865, as the war fizzles to its end, the Union disgorges hundreds of thousands of Confederate POWs, some held as long as mid-1863. Everyone has heard of the horrible conditions at Andersonville prison in Georgia – the victors write the history books. Though Commandant Wirz’s neck broke on the gallows for his “war crimes” at Andersonville, many recognized that the Confederates did the best they could for these POWs with what they had – after all, Sherman was doing his best to starve everyone in Georgia. But how does one account for Federal death camps such as Camp Douglas, Rock Island, Elmira, Fort Delaware and Lookout Point, where the Yankees had no such excuses? There was plenty of food and medicine in the North – just not for captured Confederate farm boys. The numbers tell the story. According to U. S. Secretary of War Stanton, out of roughly 270,000 Federal POWs in Confederate hands 22,576 died, while of the 220,000 Confederates in Federal hands 26,436 died. The percentages are 9% versus 12%, respectively. One would expect the side which had its medicines blockaded and crops burnt would do much worse. But no Yankee commandants were hung or even tried for that troubling discrepancy. These 50,000 deaths were largely avoidable and were the result of a cynical change in policy mid-war by the U.S. government, which up until then had honored a July 1862 agreement which provided for the orderly exchange or parole of prisoners. On July 3, 1863, as Pickett was charging at Gettysburg and Vicksburg was falling, the Federal government unilaterally suspended the prior agreement. On July 4th, Lee sent a proposal to Meade to exchange prisoners. Meade refused, citing lack of authority under new general orders – even after Lee had…