Prisoner Exchange

Brought about by a question posed to Ask Navy America
The setting and characters are based upon the aforementioned blog

During the beginning of the American Civil War, the Union's sailors burned down one of their ports, desperately trying to destroy the ships there so they could not be used by the Confederate Navy. The USS Merrimack was not fully demolished though, and was re-commissioned the CSS Virginia, one of the Confederacy's Ironclads. During this time, Alfred was in a Confederate prison camp due to being captured with the newly named Virginia. Unbeknownst to the Confederacy though, the Union was also building up their own ironclads.

The mistreatment shown is foreshadowing the ending of the prisoner exchange between the Union and Confederacy. When such happens, Alfred will no longer be bound by oath to behave, and being healthier than the other prisoners (and most of the guards) he will be able to escape. A large part of the prison exchange breaking down was caused by the Union Navy's Anaconda Plan, devised by Winfield Scott. Under this plan, the Navy "strangled" the Confederacy's trade with a blockade. The guards themselves were starving, and it was only a matter of time before they could no longer feed the prisoners. This mass suffering most-notably happened in Andersonville, GA. Anderson not being open at this time, is not the setting of Alfred's imprisonment, but rather I used an un-named camp in Georgia (the state being the home to many of America's prisons since it's colonization). The Roman Catholic priest is unfavorable in most Southern States due to the Protestant majority. This leads to a large amount of racism towards Irish immigrants (who are very Catholic). 

Anyways, please comment! This is one of my first times doing actual transitions in a comic, and it was very awkward. That and it's one of the few times I've painted something so big! Don't like my depiction? Did I do something wrong, or offed you? Then you should definitely comment! I'm open to discussions about this topic, being as I know so little about it and had to do a lot of research. 

Hetalia is owned by Hidekazu Himaruya and other affiliated producers. As the artist, I did not make any money from this artwork. Is is purely for entertainment purposes. 
Please do not re-post with out my permission.