Pamplin Historical Park

Focus Weekend: Prisoners of War
2026-06-20 09:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York)
Visit Pamplin Historical Park for the first of four Focus Weekend events. This event is title Prisoners of War and highlights the capturing prisoners, which was a major facet of Civil War combat. An estimated 400,000 to 600,000 soldiers became prisoners during the war. Union General Horatio Wright’s U.S. Army VI Corps captured 3,000 Confederates on April 2, 1865 alone.
Imprisoned officers, often received better treatment than their enlisted counterparts. Even after the official exchange system broke down, high-ranking men were still traded for one another. Much emphasis is also given to the prison experience, and comparatively little to the process beforehand. A processing program will reveal what the moment of capture looks like and the items and information surrendered to facilitate transport.
Three programs are scheduled for the day:
11 AM: “Hopeless and Gloomy Enough”
· Thematic tour of Duty Called Me Here will discuss; desertion and prisons using the artifacts and overarching themes in each room, as well as the story of Henry Robinson Berkeley, a comrade who experienced capture.
12 PM: Immortal 600 Presentation
· Lecture/presentation on the Immortal 600: Federal and Confederate forces using prisoners to deter bombardment, 600 Confederate officers endured hardship at Fort Pulaski during the Battle of Charleston.
2 PM: Prisoner Processing
· Highlights the experience of soldiers immediately after capture or surrender and what they give up in order to be processed and transported to a prison.
Focus Weekend Programs are included with paid daily park admission from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. One of “Virginia’s Best Places to Visit” according to the Travel Channel, and designated as a National Historic Landmark, Pamplin Historical Park & The National Museum of the Civil War Soldier is a 424-acre Civil War campus located in Dinwiddie County, Virginia offering a combination of high-tech museums and hands-on experiences. The Park has four world-class museums and four antebellum homes. The Park is also the site of The Breakthrough Battlefield of April 2, 1865.
