A civil war POW talks

20. A Former Prisoner of War Speaks in Concord, 1862

On April 19, 1861, William C. Bates of Boston enlisted for service in the Concord Artillery (Fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Militia), the first company to leave Concord for the Civil War. Captured at Bull Run on July 21, 1861, he was confined in Confederate prisons until June 1862. Mustered out on June 24, two weeks later he delivered a lecture in the Concord Town Hall on his experiences in captivity.