The Chemung Valley


Book Description

Authors Diane L. Janowski and Allen C. Smith combine an interest in the evolution of the commercial and residential landscapes in their home town with an exquisite collection of images in The Chemung Valley. This engaging pictorial history captures the people of Elmira, New York, at work and at play and preserves the memories of yesteryear. In The Chemung Valley, discover the people and places of Elmira's early days as well as scenes from other areas of Chemung County, including Horseheads, Elmira Heights, Big Flats, Pine City, and Pine Valley. The images in this edition, all of which were selected from the permanent collection of the Chemung Valley History Museum, represent all aspects of life in these communities. Both authors are award-winning creative photographers.




The Business of Captivity


Book Description

One of the many controversial issues to emerge from the Civil War was the treatment of prisoners of war. At two stockades, the Confederate prison at Anderson, and the Union prison at Elmira, suffering was accute and mortality was high. This work explores the economic and social impact of Elmira.










Historical Sketch of the Chemung Valley, New York: Elmira and Chemung County, and Broome, Herkimer, Livingston, Montgomery, Onondaga, Ontario, Otsego, Schoharie, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, Ulster Counties


Book Description

A beautifully reprinted special edition book by T. Apoleon Cheney. First published in 1868, this book provides a wonderful glimpse into Central New York State. Includes Elmira and Chemung County, and Broome, Herkimer, Livingston, Montgomery,Onondaga, Ontario, Otsego, Schoharie, Schuyler, Steuben, Tioga, Ulster Counties.




A Link in the Great Chain


Book Description







The Lost Bird Project


Book Description

A sculptor creates memorials to five extinct North American bird species




A Short and Sweet History of the Chemung Valley from the Iroquois Days to 1923


Book Description

A short and sweet history of the Chemung Valley as told by the three gentlemen who eventually started the Chemung County Historical Society. This history is from the Elmira Historical Pageant in 1923.




Hellmira


Book Description

An in-depth history of the inhumane Union Civil War prison camp that became known as “the Andersonville of the North.” Long called by some the “Andersonville of the North,” the prisoner of war camp in Elmira, New York, is remembered as the most notorious of all Union-run POW camps. It existed only from the summer of 1864 to July 1865, but in that time, and for long after, it became darkly emblematic of man’s inhumanity to man. Confederate prisoners called it “Hellmira.” Hastily constructed, poorly planned, and overcrowded, prisoner of war camps North and South were dumping grounds for the refuse of war. An unfortunate necessity, both sides regarded the camps as temporary inconveniences—and distractions from the important task of winning the war. There was no need, they believed, to construct expensive shelters or provide better rations. They needed only to sustain life long enough for the war to be won. Victory would deliver prisoners from their conditions. As a result, conditions in the prisoner of war camps amounted to a great humanitarian crisis, the extent of which could hardly be understood even after the blood stopped flowing on the battlefields. In the years after the war, as Reconstruction became increasingly bitter, the North pointed to Camp Sumter—better known as the Andersonville POW camp in Americus, Georgia—as evidence of the cruelty and barbarity of the Confederacy. The South, in turn, cited the camp in Elmira as a place where Union authorities withheld adequate food and shelter and purposefully caused thousands to suffer in the bitter cold. This finger-pointing by both sides would go on for over a century. And as it did, the legend of Hellmira grew. In this book, Derek Maxfield contextualizes the rise of prison camps during the Civil War, explores the failed exchange of prisoners, and tells the tale of the creation and evolution of the prison camp in Elmira. In the end, Maxfield suggests that it is time to move on from the blame game and see prisoner of war camps—North and South—as a great humanitarian failure. Praise for Hellmira “A unique and informative contribution to the growing library of Civil War histories...Important and unreservedly recommended.” —Midwest Book Review “A good book, and the author should be congratulated.” —Civil War News