Salisbury Confederate Prison
Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Confederate Prison. Enclosure, 16 acres. Once held 10,000 men. Destroyed by Federals, 1865. Site one block south.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
The Salisbury Confederate Prison held Union captives on a 16-acre enclosure that at times crowded some 10,000 men behind its walls. Overcrowding, disease, and scarcity made it one of the war's deadliest prisons before Federal forces destroyed the site in 1865.
Why it matters
As one of the Confederacy's largest military prisons, it stands as a grim reminder of the suffering of prisoners of war and the human toll of the Civil War beyond the battlefield.
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Nearby & related markers
Stoneman's Raid — Occupation of Salisbury
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On April 12, 1865, Union cavalry under General George Stoneman occupied Salisbury and set about destroying its value to the dying Confederacy. His troopers burned warehouses and supplies and wrecked the notorious Confederate prison, where thousands of captives had suffered and many had died. The raid came just after Lee's surrender, as the Confederate war effort disintegrated.
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Stoneman's Raid — Rowan County Skirmish
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In the closing days of the Civil War, Union General George Stoneman led a sweeping cavalry raid through western North Carolina, tearing up railroads and supply lines. On April 12, 1865 — days after Lee's surrender at Appomattox — his troopers skirmished with Confederate defenders near this spot. The Confederacy was collapsing, but scattered fighting continued as word of the war's end spread slowly.
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