Camp Elder Civil War Paroled P.O.W. Camp
Westtown Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
After the July 1863 Battle of Gettysburg, over 2,000 Union prisoners were held at a makeshift camp here, awaiting exchange for Confederate prisoners. Retreating armies often issued battlefield paroles to captured enemy soldiers, who were then held by their own army. The community welcomed these men and tended the injured for several weeks until the Federal government declared the paroles invalid and returned the prisoners to their regiments.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In the weeks after the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, more than 2,000 Union soldiers—captured and then paroled by the retreating Confederates—were gathered at a makeshift camp on this ground to await formal exchange. Under the era's parole system, captured men were often released on a pledge not to fight and held instead by their own army. The surrounding community took them in and nursed the wounded until the federal government voided the paroles and sent the men back to their regiments.
Why it matters
Camp Elder reveals the little-known machinery of prisoner parole and exchange that shaped Civil War campaigns, and the way ordinary communities absorbed the war's human aftermath.
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Related events
- · Battle of Gettysburg
Themes & tags
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