Devil's Punchbowl (Natchez, Mississippi)
The Devil's Punchbowl was a refugee camp created in Natchez, Mississippi during the American Civil War to provide temporary housing and assistance to the freed slaves.
Description
[edit]In order to house the large numbers of formerly-enslaved African Americans, the Union Army created a refugee camp for them at a location known as the Devil's Punchbowl, a natural pit surrounded by bluffs. Many of the formerly enslaved there died of starvation, smallpox, and other diseases.[1] It has been suggested by some that over 20,000 formerly enslaved people died here in one year.[2][3] However, the scale of the tragedy has been disputed by multiple historians, with history professor Jim Wiggins arguing the 20,000 estimate is baseless and inflated tenfold,[4] and author and activist Ser Seshsh Ab Heter-Clifford M. Boxley referring to the story as "concocted Confederate propaganda" aiming to cast the Union Army in a negative light.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ "The Devil's Punchbowl (Mississippi), a story".
- ^ Taite, Tionna (April 11, 2022). "The Devil's Punchbowl". Retrieved 2 August 2022.
- ^ Bernish, Claire (March 4, 2017). "The Devil's Punchbowl". Retrieved 20 May 2023.
- ^ Francis, Marquise (2023-06-17). "The Devil's Punchbowl: Debunking the social media myth of a Civil War massacre". Yahoo News. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
- ^ Griffey, Jan (2022-06-17). "Devil's Punchbowl: 'Concocted Confederate propaganda,' Boxley says". The Natchez Democrat. Retrieved 2023-06-18.
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