Captured at Sabine: The True Account of a Union POW After the Battle of Sabine Pass II

This is the detailed firsthand account of the Second Battle of Sabine Pass and a Union POW's journey after being captured there, as transcribed from his journal writings. Private Stephen H. Wright, a member of Company B in the New York 75th Infantry, was serving as a sharpshooter on the USS Clifton when it was forced to surrender to the Confederate Army at Sabine Pass. In great detail and usually with a sense of humor, Private Wright describes the marches and prison camps (Camp Groce and several temporary camps) along the way to an eventual prisoner exchange in Shreveport, Louisiana. Because of the insult from Confederate officers, the abuse hurled at them by townspeople, and the deplorable living conditions, men frequently tried to escape. Pvt. Wright notes some of the strategies used by would-be escapees, including: "An underground passage had been undertaken for some fifteen rods, to reach beyond the stockade, but our castle (not in the air) fell." In humorous adjacent passages, Private Wright remarks: "We are cautioned not to stray too far from camp as some of our friends might shoot us. This seemed to be the desire of the good people of the place. Christmas pass through Starville. This word should have been spelled with an "e" so we could have understood the meaning better, as the place looked as though it had experienced a famine." This is a fascinating and quick, easy read that gives a firsthand account of the Battle of Sabine Pass II and provides plenty of color into the mind of a Union POW.