The prison in Danville, Virginia consisted of six tobacco and cotton warehouses in the downtown area. The prison was intended to hold 3,700 prisoners and was overcrowded within weeks with over 4000. It was in operation from 1863 -1865. Prisoners were allotted four square feet each, given very little firewood for heat and plagued by vermin. Food rations were gradually reduced to a pound and a half of cornbread per man. The prisoners boiled wood from the rafters for "coffee." A smallpox epidemic eventually decimated the prison population. More than 1,300 Union soldiers died from illness and malnutrition.

Library of Congress Print of the Danville, VA Prisons where I have identified the four buildings used at the prison. (Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1865, by J. M. Thurston, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York. Endicott & Co., Lith., N. Y. VIEW OF DANVILLE, VA. Where Union Prisoners Are Confined Drawn by J. M. Thurston, Company F, 90th Ohio Vols.)