By Richard Leisenring, Jr., adapted from his forthcoming book
Elmira. The name is as recognizable to any novice Civil War historian as Gettysburg, Appomattox, or Andersonville. Over the years, books and articles have explored this Confederate prisoner of war camp, often accompanied by a handful of wartime images.
The Elmira prison camp, at times called “Camp Chemung,” operated for 369 days from July 6, 1864, to July 11, 1865. Located on the city’s southwest tip along the Chemung River, it held 12,122 Confederate prisoners, with 2,950 deaths—including 24 civilians—marking a staggering 24 percent mortality rate. The dead were buried in what is now Woodlawn National Cemetery.
Designed to hold only 3,000 to 5,000 men, Elmira ironically aimed to relieve overcrowding at other Northern prisons. Poor conditions, caused by overcrowding, weather, political retaliation, and bureaucratic mismanagement, earned it the grim nickname “Hellmira” and later, “The Andersonville of the North.”
One Northern correspondent, writing five years after the war ended, observed that “the very air seems impregnated with the sighs and groans of the thousands that wrestle shut out or shut in from home and kindred friends, and all that could render the desirable, and many of them now sleep on yonder hill-side, that sleep knows no waking, far away from those kindred that would gladly strew their graves with flowers, and bedew them with their tears.”
Elmira was among the most photographically documented Northern prison camps, yet no images of its interior exist due to civilian entry restrictions.
A public spectacle
From its designation on May 18, 1864, to its first prisoners’ arrival on July 6, Elmira became a public spectacle. Crowds peered through fence cracks for a glimpse of the “Rebs,” and two public viewing platforms were built across the road.
Located on the old town fairgrounds between West Water Street and the Chemung River, the 32-acre site included Foster’s Pond, a stagnant body of water prone to flooding.
A 12-foot board fence enclosed the compound, with guards posted at sentry boxes along the perimeter. Bridges spanned Foster’s Pond, and prisoners bathed in the river under supervision. Initially containing 45 buildings, the camp expanded by 1865 with additional hospital wards for disease outbreaks. A smallpox hospital, built early that year, was lost in a March flood. Nearby stood the “dead house,” where bodies were prepared for burial.
Entrepreneurs constructed observation towers and charged admission to view the rebel prisoners—until military authorities shut them down.
A garden near the main gate, called the “most beautiful spot in Elmira,” was built under the supervision of Maj. Hamilton D. Norton of the 32nd Massachusetts Infantry, the camp’s adjutant. Its purpose remains unclear but may have aimed to soften the camp’s image.
Public curiosity turned into profit. In July 1864, Mr. Nichols, a local entrepreneur, built a three-story observation tower at Hoffman and West Water Streets, charging 15 cents per view. A rival tower, erected by W. and W. Meres, stood 20 feet taller, with an admission of 10 cents. Nichols reportedly earned $5,000—over $100,000 today—before Col. William Hoffman ordered both towers closed in September.
Photographs taken from these towers remain Elmira’s most iconic, yet ironically, no complete images of the towers themselves exist—only partial views and written descriptions.
The Photographers
During the operation of the prison camp, a number of photographs were taken of the compound and supporting interests at various times; specifically, by the firm of Moulton & Larkin, with their studio located at 114, 116, and 118 Water Street just a mile or so east of the prison. This newly formed partnership consisted of William J. Moulton and John E. Larkin.
William James Moulton had originally set up as a daguerreotype and ambrotype photographer in Elmira in the winter of 1854 at 20 Water Street. By 1860, he had fully embraced the new albumen process of paper photography, specifically the carte de visite, and relocated to 13-15 Water Street with another photographer, Walter P. Chase, working as his studio operator. By 1863, his establishment had grown sufficiently to relocate to larger facilities at 116 and 118 Water Street.
Having been well established with a reputation as an excellent photographer by the time Elmira became a New York state military depot in 1861, followed by the federal draft rendezvous station in 1863, Moulton’s studio did a steady business. This included taking portraits of prominent citizens in the area, officers and enlisted men passing through the city, and local high-ranking officers and their staff stationed there. He would also take at least one known image of the new recruits while at the Depot camp in Elmira on November 18, 1861, which may have been his first attempt at outdoor photography.
A few of the studio images would be issued in a large format known as the “Imperial Photograph” measuring 17×21 inches. These were retouched for Moulton by George Wellington Waters, a well-known landscape artist who would later become the Professor of the Elmira College Art Department in 1869. One example was a group photo taken at his studio of Brig. Gen. Robert Bruce Van Valkenburgh of Prattsburgh, N.Y., and his staff. Van Valkenburgh was commander of the Elmira Military Depot in 1861.
John Edward Larkin entered into the photography trade while growing up in Rome, N.Y., and joined Moulton as an assistant photographer in 1858 upon arriving in Elmira. Eventually he became a full partner in the business sometime in early August 1864 with the partnership expanding to include the second floor of 114 Water Street with an assistant photographer, William E. Wilbur.
The two took their first photographs of the prison in late August or early September 1864, as the Elmira Daily Gazette, on September 9, stated that “Photograph views of the rebel camp…can be obtained by the public in a few days.”
In order to take the photographs of the prison and surrounding areas the two would have had to work together due to the bulk of equipment needed. At this time it is not clear if Moulton and Larkin worked together as a team or if one of them was assisted by Wilbur while the other operated the studio. However, during the operation of the prison camp, it appears that the firm of Moulton & Larkin were the only photographers in Elmira to take images of the camp. While unconfirmed, it was rumored that the team were granted exclusive rights to photograph the military establishments and prison camp around Elmira by the camp commandant, Lt. Col. Seth Eastman, an 1829 West Point graduate with previous war service as the commander of Newport Barracks in Cincinnati. Ohio, and as military governor of the city.
Moulton & Larkin introduced a “new style of photography” known as Aquarella in June 1865. Essentially, these were hand water-colored photographs with a local artist, W.C. Potter, employed to do the art work.
By mutual consent, the partnership ended on February 1, 1866, with Larkin taking over as sole proprietor of the studio. In April the following year he partnered briefly with Walter Chase, Moulton’s old studio operator.
After selling his interest to John Larkin, William Moulton invested in a couple of Elmira businesses before moving to Cleveland, Ohio, with his family. He died there in 1922. Larkin dissolved his partnership with Chase in May 1868, downsized his shop to occupy only 118 Water Street, and continued the photography business in Elmira until about 1891. Larkin also became involved in civic affairs as a Notary Public, treasurer of the Elmira Mechanics Society, Chairman of School District No.1, and the director of the Second National Bank of Elmira. He passed away at home in 1924 at the age of 88.
The photographs Moulton and Larkin left behind are perhaps their most valuable contribution to the history of the Civil War. The images have been largely overlooked by historians. Some appeared in Francis Trevelyan Miller’s Photographic History of the Civil War (1911) and Clay W. Holmes’ The Elmira Prison Camp (1912). More scholarship and research of these images will help future historians better understand and appreciate military prisons of the era.
Special thanks to Rachel Dworkin, archivist at the Chemung County Historical Society for her help and patience in this project and Chemung County Historical Society (CCHS) for the use of the photographs in their archives.
Richard Leisenring, Jr., is a contributing editor of Military Images. Rick is currently at work on a photographic history of Elmira prison camp featuring a survey of 120 images. This story is adapted from his forthcoming book.
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