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Our American Stories

The Union Colonel Who Treated Confederate POWs With Mercy

Our American Stories

iHeartPodcasts

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.6817 Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2026

⏱️ 11 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On this episode of Our American Stories, during the Civil War, Boston’s Fort Warren held more than 2,000 Confederate prisoners of war. Unlike many prison camps of the era, it was not a place of cruelty or mass death. That was largely due to its commander, Union Colonel Justin Dimick. A career Army officer with deep Christian convictions, Dimick insisted that prisoners be treated with dignity, even after losing his only son in battle. Under his command, only thirteen Confederate prisoners died at Fort Warren, a fraction of the mortality rate elsewhere.

Historian Christopher Klein tells the largely forgotten story of a Union officer who proved that mercy and humanity could endure even in the midst of war.

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Transcript

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0:00.0

This is an I-Heart podcast.

0:02.3

Guaranteed Human.

0:14.2

And we continue with our American stories.

0:18.2

Our next story comes from our regular contributor, Christopher Klein. Line is the author of four books, and is a frequent contributor to the History Channel. Here he is with the story of a forgotten Civil War hero.

0:46.9

As the autumn dust cloaked Boston's island studded harbor, the beacon atop Boston light started to glow.

0:53.3

The beams radiating from the lighthouse sparkled in the eyes of the men huddled aboard the steamer state of Maine as it crept toward the military

0:55.5

prison at Fort Warren, an island garrison near the harbor's outer edge. Just as it had been the

1:03.6

generations of tempest-toss mariners, the postcard perfect lighthouse was a welcome site to the nearly

1:09.5

800 tired and hungry Confederate

1:12.5

prisoners of war wedged together on the ship. Barely seaworthy to begin with, the state of

1:19.1

Maine was lugging double its capacity on its journey from New York City on October 31, 1861. Food was

1:26.6

sparse. The quarters were so tight that many prisoners have been forced

1:30.3

to remain standing through the night. The captives crowded the port side of the ship to

1:35.3

catch their first glimpse of their new island home. Although the granite fortress on

1:40.0

Windswept, Georgia's island exuded rugged New England's strength. It generated little

1:44.4

enthusiasm among the Confederate soldiers. A more desolate place could not be imagined anywhere

1:52.3

this side of the Arctic regions, one prisoner wrote. Awaiting a steamship on the pier

1:59.3

stood the grizzled figure of Colonel Justin Dimmock,

2:02.4

his white beers standing out amid the darkening skies.

2:07.3

The Army veteran had been stationed at Virginia's Fortress Monroe when the Civil War broke out,

2:12.9

but the duties were too trying for the 61-year-old.

2:16.7

Fort Warren promised to be a less demanding

...

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