Embedded Files
The Database
The Database
Escaped prisoners survived because of the food, shelter, clothing, and guidance they received from enslaved persons and the families of disloyal white, Confederate deserters, and Unionist guerrillas. Their adventures took place in a society that was disintegrating under the pressure of war: slaves were at war with their masters, women and children were engaged in violence, the Confederate government no longer provided basic local security, and thousands of refugees fled the ever-widening war zones.
Once these prisoners reached Union lines, they were processed by military officials and returned to their regiments, or in the case of officers, to the headquarters of the adjutant general of the U.S. Army in Washington D.C. The Fugitive Federals database was constructed from hundreds of these military records, and consolidates several year's worth of sources into one easily accessible resource.
Gathering all of this information on individual soldiers was a daunting task, extending far beyond one historian's, or even a small team's, capabilities. To help expedite the research process and broaden the scope of the database, the project was migrated into the classroom, where students taking the specially designed Research Methods course have written hundreds of comprehensive biographies. A selection of particularly well-researched biographies are published and can be found to the right. The full database, including all current student biographies on file, can be accessed by clicking the button below or explored through the 'Visualizations' page. The database updated nearly every semester as new information comes to light and more student biographies are added.
Where Did the List of Escaped Union Soldiers Come From?
Where Did the List of Escaped Union Soldiers Come From?
In the nineteenth century, Federal clerks at the National Archives and Records Administration in Washington, D.C. made lists of Union soldiers who escaped from Confederate prisons. They included information about the soldier’s regiment, company, capture location, escape location, and arrival location. The database on this website is a compilation of those records in the National Archives. Below is a list of the records used to create the database. The column titled “Info source” in the database cite the source where the soldier’s name and information appeared.
“Register of Federal Prisoners of War Who Escaped from Confederate Authorities,” Record Group 249, entry 31, no. 45
“Memorandum of Escaped Prisoners from the Hands of the Rebels,” Record Group 249, entry 32, box 1.
“Union Prisoners of War – Escaped from Confederate Authorities,” Record Group 393, part 1, entry 4318.
“Rolls and Reports of Federal Prisoners of War Who Escaped from Confederate Prisons,” Record Group 249, entry 32, box 1.
“Statements of Escaped Union Prisoners, Refugees, and Rebel Deserters,” Record Group 393, part 1, entries 4294 and 4295.
“Lists of Escaped Prisoners, Deserters, and Refugees,” Record Group 249, entry 107, box 11, roll 979.
“Letters Relating to Union Naval POWs: Reports from Officers and Seamen of the U.S. Navy Who Were Prisoners of War in the South,” Record Group 45, entry 56.
Exemplary Biographies
Exemplary Biographies
Abram J. Price by Hope Ash
William Baird by Ethan Estes
Morris C. Foote by Jadyn Hayes
Luther Furney by Ian Malingowski
James Teague and William Murray by Katherine Ridley
William McFadden by Maria Vargas-Ledesma
Henry Bartlett by Madison Guy
Edward R. Dickerson by Ainsely Hale
Daniel Ellinswroth by Hannah Paduch
Lawrence Nelson Duchesney by Benito Ibañez
John F. Dorsey by Catherine Crawford
Orlando W. Dimick by Chris Holloway
Franklin Watson Dillion by Fletcher Biles
Samuel Phillip Dill by Kacey Heitschmidt
Henry DeWolf by Richard Green
Richard A. Dempsey by Kelsie Steppick
Elam Day by Donovan Bright
Nathan Cutler by Matthew Schultze
Henry Cribben by Izzy Keene
Willis Cravens by Matthew Schultze
Richard Cooper by David Elliott
William Conn by Jude Dennis
John Coon by Austin Nguyen
Vanness V. Cook by Richard Green
Reuben P. Cook by Richard Green
John H. Conn by Catherine Crawford
Anatolli Collet (Anatolo Collect) by Dara Walker
Thomas Colgan (Coghlan, Coglan) by David Elliott
Frank S. Clark by Susana Erazo
Isaiah Conley by Madison Guy
William E. Bush by Payton Wright
Jacob Burkheimer (Burkemer) by David Elliott
Thomas F. Burke by Brooke Shalkowski
Horace Burbank by Nicholas Biddle
David S. Buck by Perri Sibille
Myron J. Brown (Union J. Brown) by Christian Flores
Byron C. Davis by Emily McMillen
Michael Furnace by Kelley Vinal
John A. Freelove by Bonnie Aldcroft-Curran
Benson, Correll, Gere, and Walpole by Steve Mills
Is the Information in the Database Accurate?
Is the Information in the Database Accurate?
Not necessarily! Remember, the database reflects the information in the sources at the National Archives. Sometimes the Federal clerks who made the lists misspelled the soldier’s name or wrote down the wrong date of capture. Students who write biographies for this project are finding and correcting the errors in the original sources. That is why we have added a “Confirmed Name” column that gives the correct name for the soldier. The biographies will provide the best-researched information on the details of the soldier’s capture, prisons, and escape.
I Know of An Escaped Prisoner That is Not in this Database
I Know of An Escaped Prisoner That is Not in this Database
Great! This on-going research project is seeking to add names and biographies to this database. Soldiers who were in the original lists compiled by Federal clerks in the National Archives have a NARA ID number in the “Person ID” column. At the bottom of the database, we are adding the names of escaped prisoners who have been discovered by researchers for this project. They do not have the letters “NARA” in the person ID column. If you have information on an escaped prisoner to add to this database, please email project director Lorien Foote at lfoote@tamu.edu.
Problems with the Arrival Column in the Database
Problems with the Arrival Column in the Database
For some soldiers in the database, the location given in the “Arrival Location” column is the place where the soldier first arrived inside Federal lines. But for others, the Federal clerks who made the lists on which the database was built put the arrival location as a parole camp, usually either Camp Parole or Camp Chase. These were places where escaped or exchanged prisoners of war were sent to be processed. From there, they went home on furlough or returned to their regiments. It is important to recognize that if the “Arrival Location” column lists Camp Parole or Camp Chase, that is not the first point of contact with the Federal military for an escaped prisoner.
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