[CIVIL WAR]. Prisoner of war questionnaire from the Bureau of Military Record, State of New York, completed by Col. Gilbert G. Prey, 104th New York Volunteers, commanding officer at Gettysburg and POW at Weldon Railroad, ca 1865.

2pp partially printed questionnaire followed by blank leaf to allow for "a statement of your capture and Prison experience in your own language, without reference to the foregoing questions." 8 1/2 x 14 in. (light soil, creasing at folds, ink faded in places though text remains legible).

As part of its legislated mandate, the New York Bureau of Military Record was tasked in 1865 with procuring "a detailed account of the treatment of Union soldiers from this State, in rebel prisons, and a record of the deaths in said prisons, and other pertinent facts connected with such imprisonment." Questionnaires were submitted to soldiers and their responses were compiled in reports by the Bureau's Office of War Prisoners' Division. Col. Gilbert G. Prey (1822-1903) answers each question on the form in detail including questions related to marches, fare, escape attempts, his health, burial of deceased POWS, treatment by rebel guards, and more. He describes his treatment as "Scandalous. Inhumane. Barbarous if you can find a better adjective for bad treatment use it." Prey then
utilizes the entirety of the blank space allotted for personal narrative to relate in detail his experience while paroled at Danville "for the purpose of issuing clothing and blankets to Union prisoners of war then confined at that place." He continues describing the cold, the lack of food, the men covered in black dirt, huddled together shivering in clothes no better than rags. "I have not the power of language to describe the suffering nor to approximate it.... A person must see to realize their situation. None allowed to look out the window under penalty of being fired."

Col. Gilbert G. Prey (1822-1903) enlisted as a captain and was commissioned into Co. F, New York 104th Infantry on 3/7/1862. He rose quickly attaining the rank of colonel by 10/21/1862 and commanded his regiment at major engagements including Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, and Wilderness. After his capture on August 19, 1864, at Weldon Railroad, he was held in Confederate prisons at Richmond, VA, Danville, VA, and Salisbury, NC. Prey was paroled as part of a prisoner of war exchange on 2/15/1865 and discharged weeks later.