Of the Civil War veterans he saw, Rev. J.L. Burrows once said, “It is not human nature to settle for physical restrictions.” This quote perfectly describes the feelings of soldiers taken prisoner during the Civil War. Many of these prisoners harbored feelings of resentment towards their captors, despite the relatively mild conditions of the prison camp. However, these feelings of resentment soon turned into animosity as conditions went from mildly uncomfortable to hellish nightmares. This will become evident when one considers the history of prison camps and the examples of two of the worst offenders: the Confederacy led Andersonville in the South and the Union led Elmira in the North. These diabolical prisons and their practices would leave as catastrophic a wound in the soul as the Minie ball was in the body. This invisible wound is known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and presents a variety of symptoms. Although PTSD was more common among inmates, there are cases where strangers have recalled painful details that could have led them to experience similar symptoms. These symptoms did not end with discharge from the camps, but lasted for life. This effect can easily be seen through the life of Angelo Crapsey. However, not all prisoners suffered as Crapsey did, as there are examples of prison camps that remained satisfactory throughout the duration of the war. Although anyone involved in the Civil War was at risk of developing PTSD, those who were taken prisoner were exposed to circumstances that could have greatly increased those chances. It can be argued that although conditions in some camps remained humane throughout the war, the irreversible psychological damage resulting from the tragedies is found... middle of paper... which appear to be "patients suffering from cretinism" certainly seem to indicate a resounding "yes". Hearing accounts of the horrors put them in a state of exhaustion before the battles even began. If they were unfortunate enough to be taken to one of the more notorious camps, they would be exposed to such terrors as to leave even the strongest mind in chaos. An account of the freed Union surgeons reads: "Ambulances took sixteen of them to the hospital, and during the night seven of them died. Again eighteen were brought, and eleven of them died in twenty-four hours. At another time fourteen were hospitalized, and in a single day ten of them died", demonstrates how prisoners lived in the constant shadow of death. This, combined with a lack of adequate nutrition and exposure to various means of torture, meant that these prisoners continually lived within millimeters of the breaking point..