Castle Thunder : the Confederate Provost Marshal\u27s prison, 1862-1865

The Civil War is, in many respects, one of the most tragic, yet fascinating periods of this nation\u27s history. During the last one hundred years scholars have stud ied numerous aspects of this conflict in great detail. The subject of this thesis, however, has received meager attention. The focus of this study is the Provost Marshal\u27s prison in Richmond, Virginia, called Eastern District Military Prison or, as it is more commonly known, Castle Thunder. Castle Thunder was the only prison of its kind in the South as most of its inmates were political prisoners, deserters, and criminals, rather than captured enemy soldiers. During the war Castle Thunder became a cause célèbre for the Confederate Government. So notorious did it become that an investigation into reports of inhumane treatment occurred in April, 1863