WEST CHESTER, PA — During the Civil War, Chester County had a large prisoner-of-war camp with almost 2,000 prisoners. Every one of these prisoners of war were soldiers of the Union. In a bizarre turn of events, the soldiers incarcerated were on the side of their own guards. When temporarily freed during work release programs, soldiers armed with rifles and bayonets rounded the prisoners up in the taverns of West Chester Borough to bring them back to the prison camp.
Local historian David Walter will present the story of this strange prisoner camp that was in Westown Township in 1863. Sponsored by the Westown Historical Commission, Walter, a commission member, has researched this strange story about our local history. The title of his presentation is “Camp Elder/Camp Parole – The Strange Story of Westown’s Union Paroled Prisoner of War Camp.
The talk will be presented at Stokes Hall on Saturday, Nov. 4th at 10 am 1 n the Westtown Township Building located at 1039 Wilmington Pike, West Chester. The event is free and open to the public. The talk is expected to last about 90 minutes, including a question-and-answer period.
Readers can contact the Westtown Historical Commission at historical@westtown.org.
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