The Prisoner Database

The Database

Escaped prisoners survived because of the food, shelter, clothing, and guidance they received from slaves and the families of Confederate deserters and Unionist guerrillas. Their adventures took place in a society that was disintegrating under the pressure of war: slaves were at war with their masters, women and children were engaged in violence, government no longer provided basic local security, and thousands of people were fleeing the ever-widening war zones.

Once these prisoners reached Union lines, they were processed by military officials and returned to their regiments, or in the case of officers, to the headquarters of the adjutant general of the U.S. Army in Washington D.C. The Fugitive Federals database was constructed from hundreds of these military records, and consolidates several years worth of sources into one easily accessible resource. 

Gathering all of this information on individual soldiers was a daunting task, extending far beyond what a small team would have been capable of. To help expedite the research process and broaden the scope of the database, the project was migrated into the classroom, where students taking the specially designed Research Methods course have written dozens of comprehensive biographies. A selection of particularly well researched biographies can be found to the right. The full database, including all current student biographies on file, can be accessed by clicking the button below or explored through the visualization. The database is frequently updated as new information comes to light and more student biographies are added; a downloadable copy of the most current iteration of the database can be accessed here.