Anthony M Keiley

In Vinculis Or, The Prisoner of War Anthony M Keiley

POINT LOOKOUT, Maryland, was the largest prisoner of war holding pen for Confederates. Its position on the tip of a peninsula formed by the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay, seemed perfect, ? for a prison camp. The first prisoners were taken in July of 1863 and were held in tents. Eventually as many as 20,000 prisoners would endure the boiling heat of summer and the freezing cold of winter. The crowded, inadequate quarters, bad food, rampant disease, and inhumane treatment would lead to the deaths of 3,584 Confederate prisoners. Anthony M. Keiley was a young Virginia soldier who found himself in this situation after having been captured in the fighting to defend Petersburg. Keiley was sent to Point Lookout, where the reflection of the sun upon the sand caused inflammation of his eyes, as well as enduring unthinkable hardships. Elmira Prison in New York was his next destination. He spent five months at Point Lookout and Elmira before he was exchanged through the lines. He also served a brief time in jail after the war, when, working as a newspaper editor, he criticized the Radical Reconstruction government. Anthony Michael Keiley had paid the price of being in vinculis ? in chains for defending the Southland, ?during the war, by arms and after the war, by pen. To follow are chronicles of his experiences in prison, told with a sparkle of his inimitable Irish wit.