at being released from prison to be put to work," joining an additional "sixty-eight negro soldiers [who] were sent to the works on the 2d instant. These negroes were captured at Petersburg July 30, 1864. Eleven of them are free; the rest are slaves." The remainder of the "U.S. Colored Troops," 66 in total, had either perished or could not physically depart from Libby Prison due to ailments and wounds. Any wages for black prisoners "employed about the prison" and additional wages for fortification construction, aside from "a day's rations," remain subjects of scholarly inquiry. Union officer petitions for assistance, written prior to prisoner exchanges or before the officers died, indicated mass suffering and deteriorating conditions within the already deplorable Libby. Newspapers on both sides of the war denounced atrocities ostensibly committed against prisoners by oppositional governments and prison commandants. Impulses and goals for these Richmond dailies' Union prisoner-of-war tallies remain subjects of scholarly inquiry. After the occupation of Richmond in 1865, Union authorities used Libby Prison for detention of former Confederate officers. They reportedly improved conditions over those that had been common for Union officers, or prisoners of war on both sides generally during the war. In April 1865, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visited Richmond, Virginia and toured the city on foot. When he came across Libby Prison, a crowd of onlookers stated "We will tear it down", to which Lincoln replied, "No, leave it as a monument." In 1880, the building was purchased by Southern Fertilizer Company. Nine years later, it was bought by Charles F. Gunther, a candymaker. He had the building disassembled, and moved to Chicago, Illinois. There it was rebuilt and renovated to serve as a war museum (1889-1899). After the museum failed to draw enough crowds, the building was dismantled and was sold in pieces as souvenirs. Prisoner conditions Upon their release from Libby a group of Union surgeons published an account in 1863 of their experiences treating Libby inmates in the attached hospital: Thus we have over ten per cent of the whole number of prisoners held classed as sick men, who need the most assiduous and skilful attention; yet, in the essential matter of rations, they are receiving nothing but corn bread and sweet potatoes. Meat is no longer furnished to any class of our prisoners except to the few officers in Libby hospital, and all sick or well officers or privates