“THE MOST NOTORIOUS PRISON AFTER ANDERSONVILLE”: LARGE ILLUSTRATED CIVIL WAR BROADSIDE CONCERNING LIBBY PRISON IN RICHMOND

(CIVIL WAR) [FISHER, Captain Robert J.]. Broadside. ["Officers of the United States: Army and Navy: Prisoners of War. Libby Prison, Richmond, Va"]. [Cincinnati: Ehrgott, Forbriger, 1864]. Broadside, measuring approximately 24 inches by 31 inches, handsomely framed. $4500.

Handsome engraved broadside listing officers imprisoned at Libby Prison in Richmond, “the most notorious prison after Andersonville” (Boatner, 482).

"Libby Prison, located in the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia, infamously housed Union soldiers, officers, and prisoners of war during the Civil War. Conditions were far below the normal standard of living. Overcrowding, food shortages, limited supplies and rampant disease plagued the prison. Commanders at the three-leveled complex designated less than a dozen rooms for inmates, sometimes allotting hundreds of prisoners only a handful of cells measuring 40 by 100 feet" (BackStory). This broadside features a Union war eagle nestled in the Stars and Stripes; four separate cartouches of scenes from Libby Prison; engravings of four soldiers; the names of the northern states in an oval pattern interspersed with floral designs and the names of numerous battles; and, in the center, a list of Union officers at Libby, headed by Brigadier Generals Neal Dow and E. P. Scammon. The Cincinnati firm of Ehrgott and Forbriger is noted for a series of over 70 broadsides it issued during the civil war that featured Union military and government figures. The top and bottom edges have been slightly shaved, losing a bit of image from the top and bottom, including the imprint, which read "designed and executed with a pen in Libby Prison" by Captain Robert J. Fisher from the 17th Missouri Volunteers.

Slight darkening in two bands across middle. A rare piece in excellent condition, very handsomely framed.