Life in Salisbury prison

Two months later George and the other Richmond detainees were shipped away from their hometown and families to a North Carolina penal colony. The infamous Salisbury Prison, hastily converted from a brick cotton factory, was designed to hold about 2,500 prisoners of war. As the war dragged on, over 10,000 men were crammed into increasingly horrific conditions. The mortality rate rose from 2% to 28%. At least 5,000 (some say 10,000) unknown Union soldiers are buried there today in a series of trenches.

George Frosst was lucky. He got in and out of Salisbury before its deadly decline. In May 1862 he joined about 1,400 prisoners there. Lodgings were damp and crude, but livable. Initially there was food, fresh water, and even an attractive campus of old oak trees that Frosst writes were populated by flying squirrels. Prisoners could wander the grounds, talk together, even play baseball. Another detainee described Salisbury in its early days as "more endurable than any other part of Rebeldom."

A few prisoners attempted escape from Salisbury, but were caught and returned. George and one of the recaptured men kept a few squirrels as pets, then realized the irony of their actions. Perhaps, one of them suggested, that releasing the squirrels would shorten their own imprisonment. Frosst writes:

"We at once decided to liberate our pets, and away they went skipping from tree to tree, chirping thanks to us for their Liberty and Freedom to seek their old homes…"

Within a week of releasing the squirrels, George and the Hancock brothers were shipped from Salisbury, NC back to Richmond, VA by rail. The men had already served six months in prison, without being charged with any crime. Home again, they were temporarily thrown back into a cell with Confederate "deserters, toughs and cutthroats," and, for a moment, feared they might be shot. With difficulty, they made their case. Although he would not relinquish his loyalty to the North, George said, he had a southern-born wife and two children to support.

Finally cutting through the red tape, the men were paroled, but required to check in with the authorities three times weekly. Frosst eventually obtained written permission to return to South Berwick, but without his family. Keeping a low profile to avoid suspicion, he entrusted his share of the machine shop business to the Hancocks and made two risky trips North to prepare an escape route for his wife and children.

CONTINUE FROSST EXCAPE