The “Dark Hole” at Salisbury

Pvt. Benjamin F. Booth, captured in the Battle of Cedar Creek, is imprisoned at Salisbury Prison, which become s a notorious death camp. Booth faithfully records all the deaths he witnesses in a secret diary-including those shot down in a prison uprising and some who were buried alive. An estimated 5,000 die at Salisbury. At last he is liberated and, emaciated and nearly naked, walks into Wilmington under a banner that reads “We Welcome You Home Our Brothers.” The USCT soldiers give him and his companions food, water, shoes, and uniforms as a band plays “Home, Sweet Home,” and many tears are shed.