Abner Small of the 16th Maine Infantry was captured at Petersburg, Virginia, Aug. 18, 1864 and held at various prisons until Feb. 22, 1865, when he was exchanged with a Confederate prisoner.
Small kept a diary while he was in prison.
On Nov. 17, he wrote, "Our condition is humiliating, degrading & almost unbearable. Many are the bitter curses which hourly arise for the Confederacy."
He and others left Danville Prison in Virginia on Feb. 17 and went to Libby Prison in Richmond as the first step to being released. On Feb. 19, he wrote, "Libby. Enjoyed luxury of hot coffee milked and sugared! the 1st for 6 months...Signed parole."
On Feb. 22, Small wrote, "Left the southern hell at 8 A.M. placed our feed on God's soil ... got sight of stars & stripes."
