Prison Number 6

Prison Number 6. Confederate Prison 1863-1865. , Built for use as a tobacco factory and leased to the Confederate government, this building housed many Federal soldiers captured in the Battle of the Crater at Petersburg in July 1864., It was one of six buildings used in tobacco manufacturing, that housed more than 7,000 Union prisoners from November 1863 to April 1865. A smallpox epidemic was responsible for the deaths of a large number of the prison population early in 1864. A total of 1,323 deaths occurred among prisoners during the 16 months Danville served as a prison compound. Most of the dead were buried on a section of ground on Lee Street that became the Danville National Cemetery in 1867., The building underwent substantial alteration in 1915. The original three-story structure, built in the Gothic Revival style with twin turrets and a recessed single bay facade, measured 90x40 feet. The interior was radically changed during renovation as well. Floor heights were changed and windows were relocated to accommodate the new floor levels., The present four-story building is 95x70 feet and functioned as a leaf tobacco factory until 1937. From that time until the early 1970s, it served as a general merchandise store and is commonly referred to as the C.R. Thomas building today.,

”The Federal Government has definitely declined any further exchange of prisoners…. I would respectfully suggest that the City of Richmond is not a suitable place for the accommodation and safekeeping of these prisoners.... One [site] on the extension of the Danville Railroad, near the border of North Carolina [Danville] has been named, where wood is cheap and provisions are in abundance, where there is little danger of any enemy raids or attack from the enemy….” , Robert E. Lee in a letter to Secretary of War, James A. Seddon, October 28, 1863.