Near Scotland in St. Mary's County, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
Prison Pen
Photographed By Pete Payette, June 19, 2017
1. Prison Pen Marker
Here you see a partial reconstruction of Camp Hoffman, the largest Union prison camp for Confederate soldiers. Built after the Battle of Gettysburg, it was planned to hold 10,000 prisoners. However, more than five times that number—52,000 in all—were imprisoned here at some point between 1863 and 1865 (the largest one-time prisoner population was about 20,000, in August 1864).
Conditions were terrible. In 1865 a prisoner wrote "If it were not for hope, how could we live in a place like this?" If you were lucky, you survived the hunger, the contaminated water, the disease and the weather. But over 3500 Confederate soldiers did not survive. Remember them along with 1000 Union soldiers and an unknown number of contrabands who also perished here during the war as you visit this site, reconstructed by the Friends of Point Lookout.
Role Reversal
Soldiers of the United States Colored Troops served as prison guards here. The irony of those who had been enslaved guarding former masters was not lost on the troops. One African-American soldier was quoted saying "the bottom rail's on top, now".
Erected by Point Lookout State Park, Maryland Park Service.
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Abolition & Underground RR
this page online
Location. 38° 2.942′ N, 76° 19.464′ W. Marker is near Scotland, Maryland, in St. Mary's County. Marker can be reached from Point Lookout Road (Maryland Route 5) south of Scotland Beach Road (Route 2.2), on the right when traveling south. Located between Fort Lincoln and Point Lookout Road. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Scotland MD 20687, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. Point Lookout Prisoner-Of-War Camp (about 400 feet away, measured in a direct line); Shipwreck! (about 600 feet away); Storm Blocks the Route to Freedom (approx. ¼ mile away); Smallpox Epidemic (approx. half a mile away); Death at Point Lookout (approx. half a mile away); A Seaside Resort at Point Lookout (approx. half a mile away); A Place of History (approx. half a mile away); "Contraband" Camp (approx. 0.6 miles away). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Scotland.
Also see . . . Point Lookout State Park. Maryland Department of Natural Resources website entry (Submitted on June 26, 2017.)
Photographed By Pete Payette, June 19, 2017
2. Prison Pen Marker
Photographed By Pete Payette, June 19, 2017
3. Prison Pen
Photographed By Pete Payette, June 19, 2017
4. Prison Pen
Photographed By Pete Payette, June 19, 2017
5. Prison Pen
Prisoners only had tents like this for protection from the sun and weather. The ground would have been bare dirt or mud. There were no trees for shade.
Photographed By Pete Payette, June 19, 2017
6. Prison Pen
Credits. This page was last revised on March 6, 2022. It was originally submitted on June 26, 2017, by Pete Payette of Orange, Virginia. This page has been viewed 376 times since then and 8 times this year. Last updated on January 21, 2019, by Devry Becker Jones of Washington, District of Columbia. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. submitted on June 26, 2017, by Pete Payette of Orange, Virginia. • Andrew Ruppenstein was the editor who published this page.
