STANLY COUNTY, NC - HOFFMAN - Civil War Stories - Richard Carter and 
			      Elmira Prison
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From The Notebook of Lilly Carter Hoffman:
 
On June 1 1864 at Gaines Mill, Richard Carter, 17 years old who had been with 
the 42nd Reg since joining Mar 1, 1864 was captured. His brother Lt. Robert 
Allen Carter saw the enemy take him away. After this General Martin's Brigade 
were fighting at New Cold Harbor and had thrown up breastworks. Capt J.A. 
Howell and First Lt R.A. Carter were behind the breastworks for protection. 
Capt Howell raised his head high enough to look over when he was suddenly 
killed by the enemy's fire. Lt R.A. Carter was promoted to Capt to take his 
place.
 
 
Richard Carter was the son of Richard and Nancy Marshall Carter was born March 
1, 1847 in Stanly County.
 
Archives in Washington DC:
Richard Carter Private Co C 42nd reg NC Infantry enlisted at Wilmington, NC 
for 3 years or the war Volunteered on Mar 1,1864. Enrolled by Capt Howell. He 
was 17.  He was captured at Gaines Mill VA on June 3, 1864 and sent to White 
House, VA (a stockade) on June 11th 1864. Sent to Point Lookout, Maryland on 
July 12, 1864 and to Elmira, NY on 17 July, 1864. Died Jan 23, 1865 of 
pneumonia.
 
Elmira Prison Camp
Small pox broke out among the prisoners from Dec 1, 1864 to Jan 24, 1865. 
There were 397 cases.  At this period there were 1738 on the sick list in a 
total of 5934 prisoners. Since Richard died Jan 23, 1865; he was ill while so 
many were dying with small pox.
"The condition of the patients is pitiable", reported a Federal inspector.
"The diseases are nearly all the typhoid type."
The Fort Fisher prisoners, especially, arrived in cold weather very much 
depressed, poorly clad and great numbers were soon taken with pneumonia and 
diarrhea, rapidly assuming a typhoid character"
Richard Carter was in Elmira Prison for a good while before the Ft. Fisher 
prisoners arrived . He entered in July 1864.
The Ft. Fisher prisoners were not taken until after the Battle of Ft. Fisher 
took place Jan 15, 1865. Richard Carter died Jan 23, 1865, one day before the 
smallpox among the prisoners was checked and eight days before the fall of Ft. 
Fisher.
 
28.8 % of Confederates died there -the highest of all Federal prisons.
 
Richard's grave number 1599 shows how many prisoners died before he died. The 
record shows that between July 1864 and August 1865 about 12,000 men were 
confined there... about 2950 died. 
" In 1861, Elmira had been a training and marshalling center for Union 
soldiers. There were three camps with two hospitals and a large warehouse. As 
the barracks emptied it was decided to make use of the buildings as a prison 
camp."