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{{Short description|Event in the American Civil War}}
The '''Immortal Six Hundred''' were 600 [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] officers who were held prisoner by the [[Union Army]] in 1864-65. In the summer of 1863 when the Confederacy passed a resolution stating all captured African American soldiers and the officers of colored troops would not be returned. The resolution also allows for that any captured officer of colored troops be executed and any captured African American soldier be sold into slavery. The resolution caused a breakdown in the exchange captured soldiers as the Union demanded all soldiers be treated equally. The Immortal Six Hundred were one group of officers who could not be exchanged.▼
==History==▼
[[File:Immortal Six Hundred memorial, Fort Pulaski, GA, US.jpg|right|thumb|Monument to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] "Immortal Six Hundred" at [[Fort Pulaski National Monument]] in [[Savannah, Georgia|Savannah]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]]]]
▲The '''Immortal Six Hundred''' were 600 [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] officers who were held prisoner by the [[Union Army]] in
▲==History==
[[File:Fort Pulaski, Georgia, USA Southwest Magazine Sign.JPG|right|thumb|Sign on a room where Confederate soldiers were confined at [[Fort Pulaski]]]]
[[File:Immortal six hundred memorial, back, Fort Pulaski, GA, US.jpg|thumb|Back of the memorial]]
[[File:Immortal 600 highway.jpg|thumb|Highway sign on [[U.S. Route 80 in Georgia|U.S. Route 80]] ]]
In June 1864, the [[Confederate States Army|Confederate Army]] imprisoned five generals and forty-five [[Union Army]] officers in the city of [[Charleston, South Carolina|Charleston]], [[South Carolina]], using them as [[human shield]]s in an attempt to stop Union artillery from firing on the city.<ref name="historynet">{{Cite web|url=https://www.historynet.com/immortal-600-prisoners-under-fire-at-charleston-harbor-during-the-american-civil-war.htm|title=Immortal 600: Prisoners Under Fire at Charleston Harbor During the American Civil War|date=June 12, 2006|website=HistoryNet}}</ref> In retaliation, [[United States Secretary of War]] [[Edwin M. Stanton]] ordered fifty captured Confederate officers, of similar ranks, to be taken to [[Morris Island]], South Carolina, at the entrance to Charleston Harbor. The Confederates were landed on Morris Island late in July of that year.
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Instructions from the War Department reached Foster in late July, and he coordinated an exchange of the fifty prisoners on July 29. Exchange of the fifty officers actually took place on August 4, 1864.<ref>Correspondence between Foster and Jones. Source: Official Records, Ser I, Vol.XXXV, Pt.2, 198.</ref> However, at that time Jones brought 600 additional prisoners to Charleston, in part to press for a larger prisoner exchange. In retaliation for the treatment of Federal prisoners, Foster asked for a like number of Confederate prisoners to be placed on Morris Island. These men became known in the South as the Immortal Six Hundred.
At one point General Foster planned an exchange of the six hundred, but General [[Ulysses S. Grant]] refused, following Order 252 which stated no exchanges would occur until the
The Confederate prisoners did not arrive on Morris Island until the first week of September 1864. During the first week of October 1864, Jones (under orders from Lieutenant General [[William J. Hardee]]) removed the Federal prisoners from Charleston. Foster removed the Confederate prisoners from Morris Island only after being informed officially of the Federal prisoners' status. At that time the Immortal 600 were moved to Fort Pulaski.
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Five more of the Immortal Six Hundred later died at [[Hilton Head Island, South Carolina|Hilton Head Island]], South Carolina. The remaining prisoners were returned to [[Fort Delaware]] on March 12, 1865, where another twenty-five died.<ref name="i600"/>
A notable escape effort was led by Captain
The prisoners became known throughout the South for their refusal to take the [[Loyalty oath#Civil War and Reconstruction|Oath of Allegiance]] under duress.<ref name="i600"/> Southerner apologists and those who believe in the [[Lost Cause of the Confederacy|Lost Cause]] have long lauded their refusal as honorable and principled.<ref
==References==
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[[Category:Confederate States Army soldiers]]
[[Category:American Civil War prisoners of war held by the United States]]
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