The O’Connor House in Charleston, Where Federal Officers Were Kept

During the last months of the war a number of Federal prisoners were confined in Charleston while the town was being bombarded by the Federals from their stronghold on Morris Island. In retaliation, six hundred Confederate officers were sent from Fort Delaware and placed in a stockade on Morris Island under the fire of the Confederate guns. Little or no damage was done on either side. This is a photograph of the O'Connor house in Charleston, used as an officers' prison. It was taken in April, 1865, after the occupation of the city by the Federal forces. The building in front of the O'Connor house is in ruins, but there are no marks of shells visible on the O'Connor house itself. Now that the fierce heat of war has passed, it has been admitted that it would have been impossible to keep prisoners anywhere in Charleston without exposing them to the bombardment, since that covered the entire city.