Steve Procko's Blog

Every story has a beginning, and for Captured Freedom, it was a single photograph shared with me in 2022 by a descendant of one of the men it depicted.

Taken on January 2, 1865, the image showed twelve figures — nine Union officers and soldiers who had escaped Confederate imprisonment, and three mountain guides who risked everything to help them.

The soldiers had endured brutal conditions, walking nearly 300 miles through the winter wilderness to reach Union lines. One of their guides was just fourteen years old. Some of these men had been prisoners since 1863, surviving years of hardship before this moment of liberation was captured.

At the time the photograph was taken, they had been free for less than 24 hours.

Not knowing anything about the twelve men — no names, no confirmed identities — sent me on an unexpected journey of discovery that eventually became Captured Freedom.

The title itself carries a double meaning: "Captured," reflecting both their time as prisoners and the photographer's act of preserving their moment of freedom, and "Freedom," representing the life-changing moment they stepped back into liberty after years of captivity.

Researching and writing this story became a personal mission: to give faces, names, and voices back to those who had once been forgotten.

I'm honored to share their story with you — and grateful to the families who kept these memories alive long enough to be rediscovered.

On a brutally cold winter morning 160 years ago today, this photograph was taken by Theodore M. Schleier in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was a photograph that Captured Freedom. Captured Freedom is a little told story about prisoners during the Civil War. Nine Union prisoners of war and their North Carolina mountain guides had arrived the… Read More »Epic Tales of Civil War Survival: Captured Freedom

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Scott Rank—is a history professor and host of the podcast History Unplugged. Scott interviews Captured Freedom’s author on History Unplugged. From History Unplugged: Steve Procko is today’s guest, and he’s here to tell the story. He’s also the author of “Captured Freedom: The Epic True Civil War Story of Union POW Officers Escaping From a… Read More »Captured Freedom on History Unplugged

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Captured Freedom’s author Steve Procko is interviewed by Kansas Public Radio host Dan Skinner for his show “Conversations“. Conversations – Kansas Public Radio https://kansaspublicradio.org/podcast... From Kansas Public Radio: On this edition of Conversations, Steve Procko talks with host Dan Skinner about “Captured Freedom.” This book was inspired by a photo of Civil War soldiers misidentified… Read More »Interview with Kansas Public Radio

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The end of the siege of Vicksburg. Lieutenant Mark M. Bassett, Company E, 53rd Illinois, wouldn’t consider the irony of his situation until over a year later. “The negotiations were going on slowly. During the 2d and 3d of July we would get up on the works three or four times a day when the… Read More »Vicksburg – July 4, 1863

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The flag or colors of the 53rd Illinois with the blood of Sergeant George Poundstone still visible in the bottom right.The restored Civil War flag hangs on display at the Streator Public Library, Streator, Illinois, where it is on permanent loan from the Illinois State Military Museum. – Photo courtesy of David Reed At around… Read More »Flag Day

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How our country observes Memorial Day has an interesting connection to the Union POWs who posed for “the photograph’ in Knoxville in 1865. Lieutenant Henry Fowler of the 15th New Jersey was just 17-years-old when he was seriously wounded in the knee and captured at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse on May 12, 1864. An… Read More »Memorial Day

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All indications pointed to a man who live in Peoria, Illinois after the war as the source for the copy photographs found at the Library of Congress, Chicago History Museum and Peoria Public Library. His name was Mark M. Bassett and he was a lieutenant in the 53rd Illinois. Promoted to Captain at the end… Read More »Mark Bassett; 53rd Illinois

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It didn’t take long until I found another copy of “the photograph”. A lead suggested that I search for records and photographs at the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) post in Peoria, Illinois. The GAR was the fraternal organization made up of Union Army veterans from the Civil War. Mark Bassett had been a… Read More »Peoria Find

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Within a couple of months of starting research for the book, I found a third version of the Civil War POW photo at the National Archives. By now, I was calling it “The Photograph“. One thing became apparent, all of the photos were “copy photos”. Two of the photos were copied from the same original… Read More »Civil War POW Photo

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