This memorial plaza is to honor the sacrifices of the 52,264 Confederate soldiers, sailors and civilians imprisoned near here during the War Between the States. Point Lookout prison camp was established immediately following the Battle of Gettysburg and was operated by the Union Army from September 1863 to June 1865The camp was built to hold 10,000 prisoners; at times it held more than double that amount of military and civilians. Due to inhumane conditions as well as active persecution, thousands of prisoners died (the record is incomplete and is still being compiled). Even though there were funds to house and feed the prisoners adequately, they died of exposure to the elements, disease, starvation and indiscriminate shootings. Col. William Hoffman, Commissary General of Union Prisons, saved over two million dollars allotted for the care of Confederate prisoners by denying prisoners enough food to prevent starvation.
Point Lookout Prisoner of War Descendents Organization (PLPOW) was founded to honor the sacrifices of their ancestors as well as to bring to the public the true story of the inhumane treatment of prisoners at Point Lookout.
In 2002, the Maryland State Park Service and U.S. Veterans Administration began to require all speeches and re-enactments to be submitted for censoring as well as other discriminatory actions directed at only Southern heritage organizations. The most unacceptable directive for descendents to accept was prohibiting the display of the Confederate Flag over the mass grave of the thousands of men that fought and died under the Confederate banner.
In 2003, PLPOW purchased this land to erect a memorial plaza that would be free of government interference and restrictions. This memorial will list the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of additional documented names of those that died that are not listed on the monument at the adjacent Federal Cemetery.
“All that was, or is now, desired is that…the truth be told, without exaggeration and without omission; truth for its own sake and for the sake of honest history…” Rev. James P. Smith, Last Survivor of the Staff of Lt. General Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson.
The Flags at Confederate Memorial
The many flags at Confederate Memorial Park have a lot to tell us about the Confederacy.
The flags of the States that seceded from the Union in the War Between the States 1861-1865 are in the monument circle with the Confederate Battle flag in the center.
Starting on the left and moving clockwise the state flags are: Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Louisiana, Florida, Alabama, Texas, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Virginia.
The flags along the walkway leading to the circle include;
1) “Bonnie Blue”-The first flag adopted by the seceding states before the establishment of the government of the Confederate States of America
2) 1st National-CSA
3) 2nd National-CSA
4) 3rd National CSA
5) Cherokee Confederation flag-The 5 stars in the flag represent the 5 “civilized tribes” of the Cherokee, Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw and Creek Nations. These Indian Nations negotiated a treaty of alliance with the Confederate government and formed their own companies and regiments as early as the fall of 1861. On June 23, 1865 Indian General Stand Watie was the last Confederate General to surrender his trips to the Union.
6) The St. Andrew Cross-The Confederate Battle Flag was patterned from the National flag of Scotland. Point Lookout is located in Scotland, Maryland.
7) In the center of the field is the flag of the Point Lookout Descendants organization (Point Lookout Prisoner of War-PLPOW).
8) Located to the right of the walkway is the Maryland flag. It is not part of the seceding states ring of flags as Maryland was occupied by the Federal Government and its legislatures imprisoned before it had the opportunity to secede.
(War, US Civil) Includes location, directions, 4 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
