This page from the June 18, 1864 edition of Harper's Weekly features a story about Union soldiers who had been tortured and neglected by the rebel army. As these soldiers languished in a Richmond prison camp without food, shelter or any care, their bodies became gaunt and unrecognizable as soldiers, men or even people. A witness quoted in the article states, " This poor fellow was so shriveled that his face looked like that of an ape."

The young soldiers shown here, who were probably not that far beyond puberty, were subjeted to conditions which essentially reversed time. The few signs of their newly developed sexuality were erased by the harsh treatment, leaving these youth looking like the gangly, awkward and genderless children of their past.

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