First, a major reason that the Union ceased prisoner exchanges was because the Confederacy had announced that it would not regard black troops — the United States Colored Troops (USCT) — as lawful combatants and would not treat them as prisoners of war. In response, the North ceased all prisoner exchanges. It is true that later in the war, an attrition analysis was relevant the issue of exchanging Southern prisoners (generally better fed due to more resources in the North) for Union prisoners who were often gravely malnourished and would almost always muster out. There is nothing unlawful or wrong about not exchanging prisoners–I would argue that this just shows that Grant was a modern general with a strong grasp of logistics and the clear vision to realize the necessary conditions for victory.

Second, any analysis of treatment of prisoners is arguable incomplete without mention of the truly horrific conditions at the main prison for Union prisoners of war, Andersonville. Photos of some of the surviving Union prisoners after the war resemble the concentration camp photos that we have all seen in connection with World War II. This is not meant to suggest that the Confederacy deliberately meant to starve and kill the victims, but their treatment not surprisingly engendered tremendous anger in the Northern public and Union forces.