The next meeting of the Clarksville (TN) Civil War Roundtable will be on Wednesday, June 17th, 2009, in the café of Borders Books in Governor’s Square Mall. This is located on Wilma Rudolph Blvd (Hwy 79) south of Exit 4 off I-24, then head south a bit. The mall is on the left. The meeting begins at 7:00 pm and is always open to the public. Members please bring a friend or two – new recruits are always welcomed.
OUR SPEAKER AND TOPIC:
“The Dix-Hill Prisoner Of War Cartel”
At the beginning of the Civil War the Union was reluctant to exchange prisoners of war concluding that it was tacit recognition of the Confederacy as a separate government. However, by December, 1861, public and press pressure forced a change with Congress passing a resolution towards that end. Some commanders had already begun small exchanges; privates for privates, sergeants for sergeants, etc. In 1862 this system broke down and caused the creation of large holding pens for prisoners in both the North and South. For example, the Confederates taken at Ft. Donelson in February, 1862, were sent to northern prisons until exchanged in the Fall. On July 18, 1862, Major General John A. Dix of the Union Army met with his Confederate counterpart, Major General Daniel H. Hill, and a cartel was drafted providing for the parole and exchange of prisoners. After approval by their superiors the cartel was formally signed and ratified, and became known as the Dix-Hill Cartel.
The Dix-Hill Cartel failed by the end of the year for reasons including the refusal of the Confederate Government to exchange or parole black prisoners. They threatened to treat black prisoners as slaves and return any taken to former owners. By June, 1863, exchanges had pretty much ceased although attempts for their resumption continued through the rest of the year. In April, 1864, Gen. U.S. Grant ordered a halt to all exchanges although some continued for the rest of the year and in early 1865 Grant rescinded that order. The net result of the halting of the exchanges was an explosion of POWs held in sub-standard camps on both sides.
Our speaker, James Epperson, will be covering all of the details of the Dix-Hill Cartel as well as its ramifications and the halting of the exchanges including the politics and arguments for forming the exchange policy.
Jim Epperson is a "middle-aged" (former) mathematics professor and current editor with a life-long interest in the American Civil War. During the heyday of USENET, he was an active participant in the newsgroups alt.war.civil.usa and soc.history.war.us-civil-war. He is the author of one article published in the now-defunct magazine Columbiad, and one in Civil War Times Illustrated, and formerly served as Program Director for the Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table. He has spoken to CWRTs around the country being a favorite speaker at the Cincinnati CWRT. He also participates in the Yahoo online discussion groups Study of the Civil War, and CWDG, as well as the Gettysburg Discussion Group. Jim maintains a total of three Civil War web sites:
Causes of the Civil War
The Siege of Richmond and Petersburg
Civil War Chronologies
Jim, with his wife, two children and two border collies, lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Please join us for a very informative program on the Dix-Hill Prisoner of War Cartel.
Greg Biggs
Clarksville CWRT