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attempt occurred in the beginning of February of the same year. Although the prisoners had to weather numerous hardships, on February 9, 1864, determined Union officers led what law enforcement considers the most daring prison escape ever. The prisoners crawled through a fireplace to slide down a chimney to sneak into Rat Hell, wading through a sea of vermin, to enter the 57 foot tunnel on their stomachs and crawl through it to a tobacco shed, where they then exited without the guards seeing them. Starting with three officers who had formed the plan, they built a massive work crew of more than 100 miners, enabling them to dig 24 hours per day. That night, 109 prisoners slithered through the complex escape route to evade their Confederate captors. Of those who escaped, two perished in the James River, 59 made it to the Union border and safety, and Confederate soldiers recaptured 48 of the Union soldiers. Although many prison escapes have occurred since the Libby Prison break, no other has matched that one for daring, cunning, sheer determination, or the amazing numbers of prisoners who escaped. Other notable prisoner-of-war escapes include the 15 Libby Prison was a Confederate prison in Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It had a reputation for the overcrowded and harsh conditions under which officer prisoners from the Union Army were kept.

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