The Art of Surviving: Belle Isle and Beyond

During the Civil War, tens of thousands of Union and Confederate soldiers endured brutal conditions in prison camps such as Belle Island in Richmond. Yet many prisoners found creative ways to preserve their humanity: they sketched, carved, wrote, and crafted objects from whatever materials they could find. Kelly Hancock of the American Civil War Museum highlights works from its POW art collection. These deeply personal pieces reveal not only suffering but also endurance, resourcefulness, and the human need to create even in the darkest of circumstances.