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<\/a>\nGray said it was a thrill to win the competitive grant during the sesquicentennial. The prison camps in the North and South were known for overcrowding, disease and starvation with 56,000 deaths from 1861 to 1865. The prison in Elmira had the highest fatality rate of any Civil War prison in the North with almost one in four prisoners dying there.<\/p>\n
CNN.com writer Phil Gast got the idea to interview Gray after hearing about his research on the Elmira prison from staff at the Andersonville National Historic Site in Georgia, the location of one of the largest and best-known Confederate prisons. Gast\u2019s CNN.com story, which includes interviews with other Civil War experts, has attracted more than 1.2 million page views.<\/p>\n
Gast said Gray provided valuable insight into Northern prisons such as the one in Elmira.<\/p>\n
\u201cI found it interesting reading his book and talking to him about the interactions between the prison and the town of Elmira and the economy there,\u201d Gast said.<\/p>\n
Gast also cited Gray\u2019s research on how some prisoners learned to make trinkets out of human bones that guards would then sell on the outside, giving the prisoners a little money for more rations.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was compelling to show the fight for survival,\u201d Gast said.<\/p>\n
The federal grant Gray won will pay his expenses to go to Andersonville National Historic Site \u2013 which is devoted to preserving the history of Prisoner of War camps \u2013 where he will do research for two weeks in August. He plans to dig further into how businessmen made money selling opportunities to the public to stare at the POWs \u2013 both in the North and South. \u201cJohnson\u2019s Island had a death rate of less than 2 percent whereas Elmira\u2019s death rate was almost 25 percent,\u201d Gray said. Because the Johnson\u2019s Island prisoners were officers, they got better treatment.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve found information where Confederate officers who were taken prisoner had slaves and they were allowed to bring their slaves with them,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n Gray discovered his passion for researching Civil War prisons while he was an undergraduate studying history at ESU and wrote his senior seminar paper on the Andersonville prison. He delved further into the subject for his master\u2019s degree in history at ESU, writing his thesis on a comparison between the North\u2019s prison at Elmira and the South\u2019s at Andersonville.<\/p>\n Gray earned his doctorate at Kent State University, where he was able to study under the premiere scholar on Civil War prisons, Frank L. Byrne. Gray\u2019s doctoral dissertation on Elmira \u2013 which he turned into his book — was the first study to examine the economic impact of a Civil War prison on its host community.<\/p>\n Sometimes, Gray learned, the host business community traded in human misery.<\/p>\n \u201cAt Elmira they built two observatories to view prisoners,\u201d Gray said. \u201cThis guy just hangs a sign, \u2018Observation deck to view prisoners 15 cents, refreshments served below.\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThe guy provided spy glasses so people could see the vermin on the prisoners of war,\u201d Gray said. \u201cThen a rival tower was built and it was 5 cents cheaper.\u201d<\/p>\n At Johnson\u2019s Island, steamboat captains would charge civilians to take a trip near the island to gawk at the prisoners. \u201cThey\u2019d be singing patriotic songs, drinking, eating\u2026they\u2019d be thumbing their noses at the POWs,\u201d Gray said.<\/p>\n Last summer, Gray was pouring through documents at the Chicago Historical Center and discovered there were two observation towers charging people to view prisoners at Camp Douglas in Chicago. The second observation tower had not been previously reported.<\/p>\n It\u2019s finds like that which help Gray bring alive the Civil War for his ESU students. In April, Gray was honored for outstanding service to the university with the \u201cESyoU\u201d recognition. The ESyoU employee recognition campaign was launched in the fall of 2013 to pay tribute to members of the faculty and staff who have shown excellence in student-centered service.<\/p>\n
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\nGray is also working on a book on the Johnson\u2019s Island prison near Sandusky, Ohio, which incarcerated only officers of the Confederacy.<\/p>\n