Zbrodnie wojenne, represalia i zakładnicy w wojnie secesyjnej (1861–1865)

The Civil War started on Friday, 12 April 1861 with an attack of the Confederate artillery on federal Fort Sumter (Charleston, South Carolina). The conflict ended on 9 April 1865 as a result of the surrender of the main army of the South under General Robert E. Lee at Appomattox Court House. It was a total war. Almost 4 million men were mobilised on both sides of the conflict. In the four years of warfare almost 620,000 human lives were lost (more than in all other wars conducted by the US put together). During the Civil War, prisoners of war were imprisoned in at least 223 camps. The majority of them were temporary. On the other hand, more than 90% of prisoners of war were detained in the twenty biggest camps and the highest numbers of deaths were recorded there. In this article I present cases of: war crimes committed on prisoners of war (the Fort Pillow Massacre, Kinston Massacre, etc.) and reprisals against them (Privateers Case, Kilpatrick- -Dahlgren Raid) and taking hostages (Corbin-McGraw Case, Immortal Six Hundred).