ERECTED IN 1845 BY LUTHER LIBBY.
OCCUPIED BY LIBBY AND SON, SHIPCHANDLERS AND GROCERS. IN 1861 TAKEN BY THE CONFEDERATED AND CONVERTED INTO A PRISON. FROM 1861 TO 1864, 40,000 UNION PRISONERS WERE CONFINED IN IT. LARGEST NUMBER AT ONE TIME 1400.
FOR OFFICERS EXCLUSIVELY IN 1864-5. FEBRUARY 9 1864, 109 UNION OFFICERS MADE THEIR ESCAPE BY THE CELEBRATED TUNNEL PLANNED BY COL. THOS. E. ROSE. MOVED TO CHICAGO IN 1889, CONVERTED INTO A NATIONAL WAR MUSEUM OWNED BY THE LIBBY PRISON WAR MUSEUM A’SSN.
C. F. GUNTHER. PRES;
L. MANASSE. VICE PRES;
C. E. KREMER. SEC. AND TREAS.
1893
The history of Libby Prison as sad as it is romantic is too well known to be retold here even briefly. The New York Public Library has in its Americana collection no less than 222 items on Civil War prisoners and prisons. Many of them are devoted exclusively or partially to Libby Prison. The selected bibliography appended to this article will guide historically interested readers. With reference to the medal under consideration it is surprising that the famous commander of the prison, Major Thomas P. Turner, found no mention in its historical legend. He “was always a gentleman,” as one of the former prisoners wrote in his memoirs.
In view of the fact that the medal is dedicated to the Libby Prison War Museum in Chicago, the history of the removal of the building from Richmond may be of interest. The following quotation is an excerpt from the pertinent introductory chapter in the now rare Catalogue and Program of the Libby Prison War Museum, first published probably in 1889 and later reprinted in the early eighteen-nineties:
“The removal of Libby Prison from Richmond, Va. to Chicago was a project never before equaled in the history of building moving and one that will not be surpassed for years to come. This famous old structure as a Confederate prison is too well known to need the repetition of its history, and it is enough to state that it was the palace prison of the South, and during the late war it held more than 40,000 Union officers and enlisted men as prisoners. The project of removing Libby Prison to Chicago was thought of by a well-known Chicago business man who interested a syndicate of his business associates, and as a result they visited Richmond in the latter part of 1888 and took a thorough look over the ground.... Mr. Louis M. Hallowell, a well-known and experienced Philadelphia architect, was engaged to work on the spot. He made all of the working plans for taking the structure apart, shipping it to the cars and rebuilding it in Chicago. The work commenced in December, 1888, and as the building was taken apart each board, beam, timber and block of stone was numbered and lettered in such a manner that there was not the least trouble about placing these parts correctly together again in rebuilding.... Sending to Chicago required 132 twenty-ton cars ... the re-erection of Libby Prison ... was completed early in September. The Museum was opened to the public September 21, 1889.... It contains the most complete and valuable collections of Confederate relics in existence.”