Except, nobody could remember what the actual name of it was.. Thus a navy captain or an army colonel was worth fifteen privates or ordinary seamen, while personnel of equal ranks were exchanged man for man. The spectators would go to the top of the tower where, with the aid of spy or field glasses, they could look down upon the camp. Another guy thought the camp was called the Andersonville Prison, confusing the name of Chicagos North Side neighborhood with the famous civil war prison camp in Andersonville, Georgia. [12] At Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois, 10% of its Confederate prisoners died during one cold winter month; and Elmira Prison in New York state, with a death rate of 25%, very nearly equaled that of Andersonville.[13]. But it also reminds us what the Civil War was about, he says. The prison populations on both sides then soared. [11], At the start of the Civil War, the withdrawal of Union Army forces left a void which several Indian tribes took advantage in order to start raids on the mail trails leading through the territory. Griffin decided, much to the neighborhoods chagrin, to erect a memorial to honor the dead rebels. This listing was just of Confederate soldiers from Georgia. (WBEZ/Logan Jaffe). From the start of the Civil War through to 1863 a parole exchange system saw most prisoners of war swapped relatively quickly. Camp Douglas was one of many camps to to be involved in major Confederate plots to release all of the prisoners. The terms of the cartel prohibited paroled prisoners from returning to the military in any capacity including "the performance of field, garrison, police, or guard, or constabulary duty". The site is now the. He was there until the end of the war and released in June of 1865. The North's Last POW Camp - HistoryNet They would procure half of a barrel or large box, have a hole made in it large enough for the prisoners head to slip through, and so as to let the barrel or box rest on the shoulders; when this ornament was placed over the prisoners head he was forced to walk from one end of the street to the other, from half a day to a whole week every day continually. Camp Douglas was the largest Civil War training camp in Illinois. The Utah Historical Quarterly (ISSN 0042-143X) is published quarterly by the Utah State Historical Society, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City . [12], The U.S. government abandons the Utah Territory, Political leadership of the Utah Territory during the Civil War. The use of black loborers was soon ended after this was found out. Captain Wirz came up with a very good idea for the problem of the sewage and the "sinks," toilets in modern terms. In Bingham Canyon. It even had the nickname of The Norths Andersonville was one of the largest Union Army prisoner-of-war camps for Confederate soldiers. By then, the camp had a prisoner population of 12,082. His soldiers, of the 3rd California Infantry, constructed a small garrison just three miles (5km) east of the Mormon stronghold of Salt Lake City. In his book, Karamanski cites an 1862 report by the U.S. Sanitary Commission, wherein an agent admonished Camp Douglas for its foul stinks, unventilated and crowded barracks, and soil reeking of with miasmic accretions as enough to drive a sanitarian to despair., Hundreds of Confederate prisoners of war at Camp Douglas, 1864. [5] In two meetings on February 23 and March 1, 1862, Union Major Gen. John E. Wool and Confederate Brig. His efforts were successful. Providing and maintaining meaningful and accurate information on the Civil War in Chicago, Camp Douglas, Illinois, and all other Civil War Prison Camps. It is not always easy to determine the status of material posted to the Internet with regard to fair use and public domain. Remember, the father of their modern education Elite beliefs is John Dewey. The attempt to forget Camp Douglas was understandable, because in the last two years of the war, at least 4,000 Confederate prisoners died there, meaning nearly 1 in 5 Confederates who were sent there never left. The agreement established a scale of equivalents for the exchange of military officers and enlisted men. The Rush Valley Mining District was established by soldiers in the western Oquirrh Mountains and more than 100 claims were staked in the first year. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. 2022 Preservation Planning Grants Success Stories. Heres the intersection of the fight for freedom.. It was a real treat for a lot of kids to see those Confederates, Karamanski says. Camp Douglas: Chicago's forgotten Civil War prison camp Although the company made several efforts to track down the culprits of the raids, it never saw any military action. . Learn how your comment data is processed. One such prison was Camp Douglas, 80 acres in size, on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. P.O. For the people of Illinois joining the Union cause, the camp was their first stop during the Civil Wara training center where they learned the basics of being a soldier, like marching and eating rations. Secrecy was certainly not the case during the war, though. The exact number of dead is unknown; however, 6,000 Confederate soldiers incarcerated at Camp Douglas are buried among mayors and gangsters in a South Side cemetery. Mississippi Inf. In June 1862 a U.S. Sanitary Commission agent decried the camp's "foul sinks," "unventilated and crowded barracks," and "soil reeking . This dead line was placed around the walls of the prison, for the purpose of keeping any one from approaching the walls. But then, in February 1862, Ulysses S. Grant captured roughly 5,000 Confederate soldiers in a victory at the Battle of Fort Donelson at the Tennessee-Kentucky border. But because neither side intended on taking large numbers of prisoners for extended periods of time, Camp Douglas as well as most other Civil War prison camps proved unprepared to handle them. Negotiations resumed in July 1862, when Union Maj. Gen. John A. Dix and Confederate Maj. Gen. D. H. Hill were assigned the task. [4] On December 11, 1861, the US Congress passed a joint resolution calling on President Lincoln to "inaugurate systematic measures for the exchange of prisoners in the present rebellion". Oh no, no I am not speaking of the Bruthas who have probably died in the 32nd Street and Cottage Grove area in modern times I speak of the ancestors who fought the Second American Revolution. Soldiers came back from the war and theyd lost a lot of their youth, Karamanski says. Andersonville and Camp Douglas: The History of the Civil War's In 1895, the night before President Grover Cleveland and his entire cabinet presided over the dedication of the memorial in Oak Woods, the monument was defaced by vandals. When the Civil War concluded in the spring of 1865, Camp Douglas prisoners were given a set of clothes and a one-way train ticket out of the city. He is most notorious for his massacres against Native Americans during the Indian Wars in the American Old West . Most of the southern fighters died of illness or. Authorities were to parole any prisoners not formally exchanged within ten days following their capture. Creating and operating a repository for information, including artifacts, photos, letters, journals, and diaries. He was a Southerner whose family owned her direct ancestor, Nero Cooper, a former slave who enlisted in the Unions African-American infantry. During most of the winter months, when it wasnt frozen, the compound was a sea of mud. James A. Mulligan - Wikipedia Sherry Williams, president of the Bronzeville Historical Society, says its important to remember Camp Douglas as not only a prison camp, but also a place where black union soldiers and confederate prisoners intersected. Your email address will not be published. By late summer of 1862, the camp held nearly 9,000 prisoners, and the prison conditions deteriorated. And though hes not a Chicago-native or a history buff, he says learning more about Camp Douglas, Chicago and the Civil War has put a bit of his own life into perspective. Steadily, illness and death began to increase among the men. When they arrived in Chicago, African Americans began settling in Bronzeville. Search, View, Print Union & Confederate Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865. Garrison Square, wich was almost 20 acres, was lined on all 4 sides by the houses of the officers and men. By the end of 1863, epidemics of smallpox spreading across the camp. For Sherry Williams, president of the Bronzeville Historical Society, theres potential in telling stories about Camp Douglas that move beyond its brutal legacy. As Connor hoped, miners began to flock to the territory. of meat and a gill of beans or potatoes. Appendix B: Camp Douglas's First Photographer IVictor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War, (Urbana, 1966), pp.1-2. History of Camp Douglas - Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation Only Prison Number 6 remains on site at 300 Lynn Street. To relieve some of the conditions at Andersonville, a larger prison was constructed in the summer of 1864 near the Lawton Depot in the town of Millen, Georgia. but the second part gets to the meat of reality. Tucker used 2 detectives, under the guise of being camp prisoners, to inform him of any future escape attempts and the aides of escaped prisoners. When it opened in 1861, Camp Douglas was a training and enlistment center for Union soldiers, a pit stop or starting point for soldiers headed to the battlefield. "Race, Repatriation, and Galvanized Rebels: Union Prisoners and the Exchange Question in Deep South Prison Camps,". While Camp Douglas may have claimed more Confederate lives than any other Union prison camp, it pales in comparison to Andersonville, a Confederate prison in Georgia that offered neither barracks nor fresh water to its Union prisoners. The camp was meant for no more than 6,000 prisoners, and as its ranks grew to roughly 12,000 at its peak it became more dangerous than any battlefield. If you feel that something here has infringed your work please let us know and we will correct it immediately. For those who had ancestors on the Confederate side, there can be a different version of what happened to their relatives taken as prisoners. A monument in Oak Woods Cemetery at 67th Street and Cottage Grove marks the largest mass grave in the Western Hemisphere, or where roughly 4,000 Confederate soldiers who died at Camp Douglas are buried. Around 5,600 Confederates were allowed to join the Union Army. Camp Douglas - Encyclopedia of Chicago "Andersonville Revisited,", Waggoner, Jesse. The prisoner would be compelled to climb up and down the ladder from morning till night, every day for a whole week, and sometimes longer; he was not allowed to stop and rest at all. Just over 12% of the captives in Northern prisons died, compared to 15.5% for Southern prisons. In January and February 1863 an average of 18 prisoners died every day, for a death rate of 10% a month, more than any other Civil War prison in any 1-month period. The South Side encampment was named after 19th Century Illinois politician Steven Douglas and was one of the most important Union camps during the Civil War. I have seen the blood run from the nose and mouth of some who were thus punished. On January 29, 1863, Connor's troops encountered the Shoshoni encampment along the Bear River. Fetzer Jr., Dale and Bruce E. Mowdey (2002). Patrick Edward Connor - Wikipedia They discussed many of the provisions later adopted in the Dix-Hill agreement. Publishers NOTE: For me, what you are about to read has been a fascinating journey partially because I spent 12 or 13 years of my youth growing up in the burbs about 25 miles north of the Chicago Loop. Then both of them could rejoin their units. As a result, units from California and Utah were assigned to protect against these raids. Illness became the camps leading cause of death, claiming roughly 4,500 Confederate soldiers, or 17 percent of the total number of men imprisoned at the camp during its nearly four years in operation, according to Karamanskis estimate. He installed some radical changes to prevent escapes. Camp Douglas became a prison camp, housing over 30,000 Confederate prisoners, from 1862 until it was demolished in 1865. Colored Infantry at Camp Douglas. In accordance with Title 17 U. S. C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. The first group of 3,200 prisoners arrived at the camp on February 21. Volunteers Battle Flag, FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Today, its Bronzeville. Eager for combat, Connor marched his regiment 140 miles over the frozen winter landscape to deal with the Indians. Often these men would stand in that position until the blood would run from the nose and mouth; the guard would stand by and laugh at it. One prisoner had to climb and descend this ladder for nearly a whole month. Confederate Deaths at Camp Douglas | FamilyTree.com Union & Confederate Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865. To prevent tunneling, flooring was replaced in the barracks and the buildings were elevated on posts to 4 feet above ground.To prevent escapes by fence, an additional 12-foot high, solid-oak barricade was constructed with an elevated walkway for guards around the existing fences to create a triple plank enclosure from which the guards to look down into the pen. Sometimes, though, visitors likely Confederate sympathizers would end up walking out with a prisoner. Captured escapees were put in a place of close confinement, called the lockup cell. Containing over 200 buildings on 60 acres, Camp Douglas was the most significant Civil War facility in Northern Illinois. This California Infantry post guarded the Territorial capital of Utah. He says one of the guys thought the name might have been Camp Burnham. Its safe to say probably the last thing on their mind was exploring their neighborhoods lost history, centering on those who had previously fought to keep them enslaved. It is currently a state park, The Confederate prison at Danville, Va., was not one prison camp but six tobacco warehouses in which captured Union soldiers were confined during 18631865. Chicago's Forgotten Civil War Prison Camp | WBEZ Chicago The Utah Territory (September 9, 1850 - January 4, 1896) during the American Civil War was far from the main operational theaters of war, but still played a role in the disposition of the United States Army, drawing manpower away from the volunteer forces and providing its share of administrative headaches for the Lincoln Administration. There was still another favorite mode of gratifying their insatiate thirst for punishment. During the war, over 18,000 prisoners were held at the camp. What REALLY went on in this 80 acres of pure Hell? By the end of 1863, epidemics of smallpox spreading across the camp. In addition, it was important to protect the overland mail route and telegraph lines along what later became known as the California Trail. More people in the Civil War died of diseases than from bullets, says David Keller, the managing director of the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation and the author of a forthcoming book about the history of the camp. For more information go to: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window). Recall that Chris, our question-asker, could find little about the camp as though the place had become a secret. There was deep-rooted animosity toward the Confederate cause from the moment the war ended. Futch, Ovid (1962). (1996). Another favorite method of punishment was this: Every man in a barrack would be marched out on the snow in front of the barrack, formed in a line of one rank, and then told by the guards that under the snow and ice could be found plenty of corn for them to parch and eat, that they must reach for it, which was done in the following manner: The guards would point their pistols, cocked, at the heads of the prisoners, make them bend their bodies over in a stooping posture, until the tips of their fingers would touch the ground under the snow and ice, the knees having to remain perfectly stiff and straight and not bend in any manner. (WBEZ/Logan Jaffe), The topic then presented itself at work. His men discovered gold, silver, lead, and zinc deposits in Tooele County in 1864. Camp Douglas, located near Chicago, was originally created as a rendezvous point to train and quarter regiments raised in the Chicago area at the beginning of the war. Andersonville and Camp Douglas: The History of the Civil War's 10 in April brought almost 1,500 more Confederate prisoners into Prison Square. This was accomplished by tying a strong cord around each thumb, then throwing one end over a scantling or beam above the head, drawing the cord until the arms and body were stretched until the toes would just touch the ground or floor. In many ways, the story of Camp Douglas is the story of the Civil War itself. In the camps early days, Chicago residents were allowed free access to the camp. Before its closure in 1865, 2,963 prisoners died there from various causes. They would be compelled to stand in this position from half an hour to four hours, and never for a shorter time than half an hour, the snow and ice being very deep all winter, often twenty inches. The post, named Camp Douglas for former Illinois presidential candidate and congressman Stephen A. Douglas, was officially established on October 26, 1862. The attempt to forget Camp Douglas was understandable, because in the last two years of the war, at least 4,000 Confederate prisoners died there, meaning nearly 1 in 5 Confederates who were sent there never left. Still there was another mode, differing from all the others, but fully as harsh and severe, if not worse. Connor at once engaged in an acrimonious and bitter cold war with Brigham Young and the Mormon people, whom he accused of being disloyal and immoral. But soon after the war, the city thought better of placing the dead so close to Lake Michigan Chicagos principal source of drinking water. About the time that Sweet took command of the prison, a reduction in prisoner rations took place by orders from Washington, D.C. "Prison Camps and Prisoners of War," in Steven E. Woodworth, ed., Robins, Glenn. In 1864 Ulysses Grant, noting the "prisoner gap" (Union camps held far more prisoners than Confederate camps), decided that the growing prisoner gap gave him a decided military advantage. The guards would procure a ladder long enough to reach from the ground to the top of the plank wall which enclosed the prison grounds, the upper end of the ladder resting against the side of the parapet and the lower end on the ground just over the dead line. Sometimes the big four would allow the prisoner to stand up and walk erect from one end of the street to the other, carrying the bone in his mouth; at the same time they would take their stand at some convenient place within range of the prisoner, in the event that an army pistol became necessary to be used as a persuasive means to enforce this method of punishment. Well children no war was ever civil, so just hush yo mouth. Each government appointed an agent to handle the exchange and parole of prisoners. The camp was built on low ground, and it flooded with every time it rained. Support for prisoner exchanges grew throughout the initial months of the war, as the North saw increasing numbers of its soldiers captured. He lives in Uptown and was reading Uncle Toms Cabin when he got to thinking about the Civil War and what connection Chicago might have to it. Overcrowding and poor sanitation spread diseases such as dysentery, smallpox, typhoid fever and tuberculosis. In May 1864, Col. Benjamin J. feet large. During the Civil War, more Confederate soldiers died at Chicago's Camp Douglas than on any battlefield. Camp Douglas is the only military installation in the United States sited purposely so that soldiers could keep a watchful eye on the American citizens outside its gates. "Prison Life at Andersonville,", McLain, Minor H. (1962) "The Military Prison at Fort Warren,", Robertson, James I., Jr. (1962). Keller says they are very, very close to being able to announce a location. Offering information to educators, historians and other interested persons as appropriate to increased awareness and understanding. "The Propaganda Literature of Confederate Prisons,", Robins, Glenn. So when dealing with the memory of oppression and racism which is what the Civil War represents its never going to be something thats broadly consensual because its a felt history.. Located on the South Side of Chicago around 31st Street between Cottage Grove Avenue and present-day Martin Luther King Drive, Camp Douglas occupied roughly four square blocks about 80 acres total and operated from 1861 to 1865. Mineral deposits found in Utah by California soldiers encouraged the immigration of non-Mormon settlers into Utah. Within the first month of operation, the camp was at full estimated capacity. The North had a much larger population than the South, and Gen. Ulysses S. Grant was well aware that keeping its soldiers in Northern prisons hurt the Southern economy and war effort. I grew up in Oklahoma, he says. Site on Bingham Creek south of Midvale. He was in charge of the sentinel on the parapet, and if he stopped to rest would have been shot. PDF Introduction & Historic Perspective - Camp Douglas At the end of the day, the prisoners were not allowed to talk to one another after the went to bed. The lockup was a room 18 sq. To Die in Chicago: Confederate Prisoners at Camp Douglas, 1862-65 In addition, the program administers three other grants: Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants, the newly authorized Battlefield Restoration and Battlefield Interpretation grant programs. Many of the prisoners were so thinly clad they could scarcely hide their nakedness. Whats more and this is where it gets gloomier its been hyperbolically remembered by some historians as the deadliest prison in American history and eighty acres of hell. So the fact that Chris, despite his earnest attempt, didnt find much on Camp Douglas interested Curious City, too. Soon, though, the camp was taking on more and more prisoners and keeping them for longer and longer. It became a prisoner-of-war camp in early 1862 and is noteworthy due to its poor living conditions and a death rate of roughly 15%. We make every attempt to respect the rights of others. Why Chicago? We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation. Eighty acres of hell He was captured at the battle of Franklin, Tennessee on November 30, 1864 and sent to Camp Douglas in Chicago, arriving there on December 5, 1864. Also, an, is written out in alphabetical order. After the flag kept getting torn down, Griffin took out an ad in the Chicago Defender, the citys African-American newspaper. Adjutant General Chandler P. Chapman of Madison, a veteran of the famed Iron Brigade, purchased 440 acres near the Village of Camp Douglas, which was used for rifle practice beginning in 1888. South of Chicago, and adjacent to the Illinois Central Railroad, the stark walls of Camp Douglass sprawling 60-acre complex served two purposes. Camp Douglas was converted into a prisoner-of-war camp. Still, Karamanski is quick to refute the claim that Camp Douglas was the deadliest prison camp in America, as some historians claim.