Visualizations

In September 1864, so many Union prisoners escaped from Confederate prison camps in South Carolina, local newspapers in the state wrote about a “Yankee Plague” that covered the land “like the locusts of Egypt.”  And the number of prisoners who escaped in the months after just continued to grow.  Why did so many prisoners escape?  Where did they escape?  And where did they go? 

It’s a fascinating story, and there’s more than one way to tell it.  An in-depth narrative is available in historian Lorien Foote’s book Yankee Plague: Escaped Union Prisoners and the Collapse of the Confederacy. 

Historian Andrew Fialka has built a visualization that explores the story through interactive maps: Fugitive Federals: A Digital Humanities Investigation of Escaped Union Prisoners.  Here you will find capture, escape, and arrival locations for thousands of people.

Please note: a site with more interactive features and data exploration is under re-construction after experiencing a major technical issue.  For these who have used the other site and are trying to find it, it will be back!  And for those who are exploring the project for the first time, please come back soon for a new experience!