Michael Dougherty, 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry, in later life Those who became sick could not lift themselves from the floor in the cramped conditions, and risked the additional injury of being trampled by other inmates. (2) The 12th December was Dougherty’s two month anniversary as a prisoner, and he already estimated his weight loss at 25 pounds. As conditions worsened a large proportion of the prisoners began falling ill, and were removed to hospital. The rations they received were often paltry- on the 9th December the men received only two biscuits and four ounces of pork each. To pass the time the half-naked soldiers spent much of the day catching lice, with mealtime offering the only distraction. They were treated ‘more like hogs then men’ and they were packed so tightly that it was impossible to move around. On 1st December 1863 he recorded that his room contained 300 men, kept in a space of 30 by 90 feet, lying all over the floor. Michael Dougherty kept a prison diary during his confinement to pass the time. The Irishman recorded the harsh conditions of life as a prisoner of war, although by his own admission ‘no one can form an idea of what suffering there is here, and no pen can describe the hardships we have to endure.’ (1) During Dougherty’s time there it accommodated some 700 Federal prisoners. Located opposite the notorious Libby prison in the Confederate capital, the Pemberton building was a large former tobacco warehouse that was thirty feet wide and ninety feet deep, with three floors. In December 1863 he found himself in the Pemberton prison in Richmond, Virginia. The Donegal man had been captured on 12th October 1863 in Jefferson, Virginia, during the action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. His would be a very different Christmas to those of friends and family back home. However, as Christmas Day 1863 approached the only thing on Michael Dougherty’s mind was survival, as he languished in a Confederate prison at Pemberton, Richmond. His bravery in combat would be recognised in 1897, when he was awarded the Medal of Honor. Donegal, served in the ranks of the 13th Pennsylvania Cavalry during the American Civil War. Private Michael Dougherty of Falcarragh, Co.
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