| 1607/07/00 |
John Smith (Explorer) |
Explorer |
Captain John Smith explores Belle Island, calling it "Broad Rock" island. |
|
|
Voyage of Discovery on the Chesapeake |
| 1862/06/00 |
|
|
Confederate officials buy a 54 acre island in the James River from Old Dominion Iron and Nail Works and establish Belle Isle Prison for Union privates and non-commissioned officers. The prison's first commandant is Captain Norris Montgomery. |
|
|
|
| 1862/07/01 |
Seth N Eastman MD |
Prisoner of War |
Seth Eastman is captured by the advancing Confederate forces and spends three months in Libby and at Belle Isle military prisons. |
|
|
Seven Days Battles |
| 1862/07/22 |
|
|
The Dix-Hill cartel is codified, allowing for the exchange of Union and Confederate prisoners of war. |
|
|
|
| 1862/08/00 |
Henry Wirz |
Commandant |
Captain Henry Wirz replaces Norris Montgomery as commandant of Belle Isle Prison in Richmond. Enclosed by a 3' high earthworks, Belle Isle's 6-acre compound holds roughly 300 Sibley tents (conical, pole tents), that sleep about 10 men each. |
|
|
|
| 1862/09/23 |
Seth N Eastman MD |
Prisoner of War |
Belle Isle Prison on the James River in Richmond closes as Union prisoners are exchanged. |
|
|
|
| 1863/01/17 |
|
|
Belle Isle Prison in Richmond reopens after the Battle of Fredericksburg, but it will soon close. |
|
|
Battle of Fredericksburg |
| 1863/05/13 |
|
|
Belle Isle military prison in Richmond reopens after the Battle of Chancellorsville. |
|
|
Battle of Chancellorsville |
| 1863/10/05 |
|
|
The Richmond Examiner publishes that the capital is overrun with the "'azure-stomached' race this winter." Confining 6,000 to 8,000 prisoners, Belle Isle's population is at least twice the prison's capacity. |
|
|
|
| 1863/11/22 |
John L Ransom |
Union Prisoner of War |
John L Ransom is confined in the Confederation Army's Belle Isle military prison, Richmond. |
|
|
|
| 1863/12/00 |
|
|
Smallpox infects Belle Isle's population. |
|
|
|
| 1864/02/00 |
|
|
Confederate authorities begin moving Union Prisoners of War from Belle Isle south to Andersonville in Georgia, Danville in Virginia or Salisbury in North Carolina. |
|
|
|
| 1864/02/11 |
John L Ransom |
Union Prisoner of War |
"... a good deal of fighting going on among the men ...They are "just like so many hungry wolves penned together." - John L Ransom's diary entry. |
|
|
|
| 1864/05/00 |
|
|
Lucius Chittenden is sent by President Lincoln to investigate former prisoners from Belle Isle. Published in the late 1890s, Recollections of President Lincoln and His Administration, tells of Union prisoners freezing and starving to death by the CSA. |
|
|
|
| 1864/10/00 |
|
|
Belle Isle Prison is closed. |
|
|
|
| 1904/00/00 |
|
|
Virginia Electric Power Company builds a hydroelectric power plant on Belle Isle. They operated the plant until 1963. |
|
|
|