So Far from Dixie - Confederates in Yankee Prisons

“An outstanding narrative of prison life.”—Civil War Times

“Those searching for a probing story about life in Civil War prisons will not be disappointed with Philip Burnham’s So Far from Dixie.”—Civil War News

Across the North, 26,000 Rebels died in what was called "Yankee captivity"—six times the number of Confederate dead listed for the Battle of Gettysburg, and twice that for the Southern dead of Antietam, Chickamauga, Chancellorsville, Seven Days, Shiloh, and Second Manassas combined. "If there was ever a hell on earth," one Confederate veteran remembered, "Elmira prison was that hell." New York's POW camp—nicknamed "Helmira"—was the most infamous of Northern prisons during the Civil War, places where hunger, brutality, and disease were everyday hazards.
So Far from Dixie is the gripping narrative history of five men who were sent to Elmira and survived to document their stories. Berry Benson promised that he would escape the prison under honorable circumstances. Anthony Keiley charmed Union authorities into giving him a job at Elmira and later became mayor of Richmond, Virginia. John King refused to build coffins for his fellow prisoners. Marcus Toney disdained to take the Union oath of loyalty until long after the war had ended. And Frank Wilkeson, a Union army volunteer only fifteen years old, endured the same humiliating punishments meted out to the prisoners he was guarding.

List of contents

Contents

Acknowledgments

Foreword

Prologue: Capture

Chapter 1: “Fresh Fish:”

Chapter 2: The Fox and the Mole

Chapter 3: Escape from Elmira

Chapter 4: City of Indigents

Chapter 5: Death in the Ranks

Chapter 6: When Johnny Came Marching Home

Epilogue

Endnotes

Bibliography

Index 

About the author

By Philip Burnham

Product details

• Authors: Philip Burnham, Burnham Philip, Philip Burnham
• Publisher: Ingram Publishers Services
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Release: 03.03.2026
• EAN: 9781493094097
• ISBN: 978-1-4930-9409-7
• No. of pages: 336
• Dimensions: 152 mm x 229 mm x 22 mm
• Weight: 712 g
• Illustrations: 25 BW Photos
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; USA, Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Military, Biography: historical, political & military, HISTORY / United States / Civil War Period (1850-1877), HISTORY / United States / 19th Century, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, Local History, United States of America, USA, History of the Americas, Biography: historical, political and military, Northeastern & North Atlantic States, US Northeast: Mid-Atlantic States