camp douglas civil war
South of Chicago, and adjacent to the Illinois Central Railroad, the stark walls of Camp Douglass sprawling 60-acre complex served two purposes. Part of a series of articles titled inches in the ceiling. Abraham Lincoln and the Mormons | Religious Studies Center The camp was built on low ground, and it flooded with every rain. 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. Camp Douglas makeshift nature showed in its rickety wooden barracks and crude sewer system. 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. It included a Confederate battle flag flown at half-mast. Because of the drastic prison conditions, local residents offered refief and assistance to the prisoners, not as a matter of politics but purely out of compassion. Somewhere in the process, his first name was miss . (WBEZ/Logan Jaffe). We make every attempt to respect the rights of others. During most of the winter months, when it wasn't frozen, the compound was a sea of mud. But when Rowland searched a bit more on Google, he learned about the camps real name, but not much else. . I think its building community pride, adds Keller. 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. Steadily, illness and death began to increase among the men. With only estimates over the years, it is figured maybe 6,000 Confederate soldiers died at Camp Douglas. In other words, it had been improvised, and wasn't meant to hold prisoners or last more than a couple years. Wisconsin Military Reservation Historical Marker His men discovered gold, silver, lead, and zinc deposits in Tooele County in 1864. Camp Douglas effort stirs ghosts of the Civil War Mormon leader Brigham Young was among the first to send a message, along with President Lincoln and other officials. During the next 2 months, the camp continued to hold ovewr 11,000 prisoners. On the east side of the camp was the parade ground and administrative buildings: on the south side was the camp hospitals: on the west side was the actual prison camp. 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. Again, security was lax because the camp had never been intended to hold prisoners. 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. Camp Douglas: Chicago's Civil War Prison (Images of America: Illinois Andersonville and Camp Douglas: The History of the Civil War's 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. During the Civil War, more Confederate soldiers died at Chicago's Camp Douglas than on any battlefield. IVictor Hicken, Illinois in the Civil War, (Urbana, 1966), pp.1-2. (Library of Congress) However, as the war progressed, the conditions at Salisbury plummeted. It is not always easy to determine the status of material posted to the Internet with regard to fair use and public domain. Quartermaster General Meigs responded that such an undertaking would be much too "extravagant". One such prison was Camp Douglas, 80 acres in size, on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. Also, an onlinesite of namesis written out in alphabetical order. 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. feet large. Here is a group of people who looked upon my people as animals, as subhuman, then-Alderman Allen Streeter told the Chicago Tribune. In 1878, the post was renamed Fort Douglas. Camp Douglas - Encyclopedia of Chicago [6], Connor encouraged his men to explore the Utah region for mineral deposits, the discovery of which he believed would bring more non-Mormons into the territory, changing the balance of political power. 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. They said they were probably ex-slaves and belonged to their masters, not to the Union Army. It even had the nickname of The Norths Andersonville was one of the largest Union Army prisoner-of-war camps for Confederate soldiers. SOURCE: A Sketch of the Battle of Franklin, Tenn.; with Reminiscences of Camp Douglas, by John M. Copley, 1893. After continued pressure by the Sanitary Commission, he finally relented and authorized the construction of a sewer system for the camp in June 1863. If the sentinel on the parapet failed to fire at him, some one or more of the big four would do so, and they rarely missed their aim. Garrison Square, wich was almost 20 acres, was lined on all 4 sides by the houses of the officers and men. (WBEZ/Logan Jaffe). In many ways, the story of Camp Douglas is the story of the Civil War itself. 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. It became a prisoner of war camp in 1862. Today the site stands as a stark reminder of the more than 4,000 Confederate prisoners of war who died within the walls of Camp Douglas and of the Civil War military prisonsboth in north and souththat claimed the lives of 56,000 captured soldiers. Camp Douglas (Ill.), United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Registers of dead -- Confederate side, Oakwoods Cemetery (Chicago, Ill.) Publisher Cincinnati, Cohen & Co Collection library_of_congress; americana Digitizing sponsor Sloan Foundation Contributor The Library of Congress Language English Chris Rowland is a 36-year-old sales engineer at a South Side manufacturing company. Camp Douglas, IL - Civil War (Confederate POW's) Confederate prisoners who died in 1863 at Camp Douglas formerly located on the outskirts of Chicago, IL. 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%. Many people recall their history of the terrible conditions for Union prisoners at Andersonville Prison in Georgia during the American Civil War. They discussed many of the provisions later adopted in the Dix-Hill agreement. The issue reared itself again in 1992, when The Commission on Chicago Landmarks proposed to make the Oak Woods mound a historic landmark, drawing the ire of black alderman. In 2014 the foundation helped persuade the Illinois Historical Society to erect the first official acknowledgement of the camp: a small plaque at 32nd Street and Martin Luther King Drive informing residents and passersby that they are in fact walking upon significant history. Camp Douglas as local spectacle In his book, Karamanski quotes Griffin, saying, The flag is not a symbol of hate. Answering this part of Chriss question had us consider how a city acknowledges the darker parts of its past and the benefits, if any, of remembering them at all. Above, visitors with picnic baskets arrive at the camp. The original work on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 US License. Security was also tightened within the camp. "Andersonville in History and Memory,", This page was last edited on 11 June 2023, at 10:31. Connor eventually built a camp on the eastern bench overlooking the city and named it Camp Douglas, to honor Stephen A. Douglas, who had turned against the Mormon people. (1956). I have seen the blood run from the nose and mouth of some who were thus punished. Mineral deposits found in Utah by California soldiers encouraged the immigration of non-Mormon settlers into Utah. Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 US License, Growing Pains of the Republic (1801 1856), Depression, New Deal and Beyond (1932 1945), Beyond Victory and Toward a New Frontier (1946 1962), The Decline and Fall of the American Empire (1963 to), In Memorium: Ex-Slave and Confederate, dies at 112 | Metropolis.Caf. 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. This listing was just of Confederate soldiers from Georgia. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml, Pingback: In Memorium: Ex-Slave and Confederate, dies at 112 | Metropolis.Caf, Confederate soldiers did not fight for slavery because they couldnt even afford a slave. War Spirit in Illinois For the people of Chicago, the year 1861 would be an especially momentous one, The State was inflamed with war fever . On February 20, 1865, the United States Senate confirmed the posthumous appointment of Mulligan to the rank of brevet . Most of the southern fighters died of illness or. The camp was built on low ground, and it flooded with every time it rained. [4], The District of Utah was organized on August 1, covering the territories of Utah and Nevada, and Connor was appointed commanding officer. In addition, the program administers three other grants: Battlefield Land Acquisition Grants, the newly authorized Battlefield Restoration and Battlefield Interpretation grant programs. 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. This was very severe punishment. Captured escapees were put in a place of close confinement, called the lockup cell. Overcrowding and poor sanitation spread diseases such as dysentery, smallpox, typhoid fever and tuberculosis. The ration was typically 1/2 loaf of baker's bread daily, with about 4 oz. 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 Union victories at Shiloh and Island No. By the end of 1863, epidemics of smallpox spreading across the camp. If you feel that something here has infringed your work please let us know and we will correct it immediately. Utah is generally viewed as a quiet . Recall that Chris, our question-asker, could find little about the camp as though the place had become a secret. When Camp Douglas was first opened, Chicagoans had free access to the site. Amplifying Narratives 2022 Preservation Planning Grant Year in Review, Next: "Prison Life at Andersonville,", McLain, Minor H. (1962) "The Military Prison at Fort Warren,", Robertson, James I., Jr. (1962). The barrel or box was very heavy, and all the time pressed on the shoulders with nothing to protect them, which made the carrying of very painful and annoying. Register of Confederate soldiers who died in Camp Douglas, 1862-65 and 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. Support for prisoner exchanges grew throughout the initial months of the war, as the North saw increasing numbers of its soldiers captured. Around 10,000 prisoners were moved to Camp Lawton between October and late November 1864. Photos: Camp Douglas, Confederate prisoners, Sign to remember Camp Douglas and camp prisoners. After all, no one thought the Civil War would go on as long as it did. Litchfield Park, AZ 85340 By late summer of 1862, the Camp Douglas held nearly 9,000 Confederate prisoners, and the prison conditions really deteriorated. Only Prison Number 6 remains on site at 300 Lynn Street. One the earliest methods for Confederate to attempt an escape was when a prisoner darkened his hands and face with charcoal or some other substance and walked out the front gate with other black prison laborers. Northerners often believed their men were being deliberately weakened and killed in Confederate prisons, and demanded that conditions in Northern prisons be equally harsh, even though shortages were not a problem in the North. The camp was built on low ground, and it flooded with every time it rained. The only way socialism has any chance in America is for the education system to push it in schools. The big four called this the dog performance, or barking like a dog. Prison camps were largely empty in mid-1862, thanks to the informal exchanges. The camp was named in honor of Illinois statesman Stephen A. Douglas, whose residence was nearby. 2022 Preservation Planning Grants Success Stories. Containing over 200 buildings on 60 acres, Camp Douglas was the most significant Civil War facility in Northern Illinois. 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. Then came the post World War II housing shortage and the urban renewal of the 1960s. Oh and by the way, in 1970 my wife (then fiance) and I went to a birthday party one night around 32nd and Cottage Grove and we were the only White folks in the hood. The hungry prisoners often resorted to these barrels in search of a beef bone from which to make soup, or bake by the heating stoves in order to obtain the grease. This financial assistance generates community-driven stewardship of historic resources at the state, tribal and local levels. Here is the quote of the day. At the time, this was the longest railroad in the world, running from Cairo, Illinois, along the Ohio River, to Chicago. Within the first month of operation, the camp was at full estimated capacity. Here is the actual newspaper page on May 14th, with the listing of names based on dates as the public would have seen it in 1866 in Macon. This dead line was placed around the walls of the prison, for the purpose of keeping any one from approaching the walls. For the most part, the history of that memory nearly had Camp Douglas written out. Even with the amazing teaching of Mr. Adair in the 5th grade, I was not aware of the history nor the monument dedicated to our Brothers from down South. The North's Last POW Camp - HistoryNet Camp Douglas was the largest Civil War training camp in Illinois. Camp Douglas was one of the largest POW camps for the Union Army, located in the heart of Bronzeville. As the war began in early 1861, the War Department pulled the Federal troops out of the Utah Territory and reassigned them to other regions where they were more immediately needed to quell the brewing rebellion. 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. Remembering the cost of victory Andersonville and Camp Douglas: The History of the Civil War's Karamanski estimates that during the Civil War only one in three soldiers died on the battlefield. After discussing his offer with Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, Lincoln accepted the formation of a thirty-man cavalry company for ninety days; this was later expanded into a 106-man company. Soon, though, the camp tightened up security and stopped admitting visitors. Both sides agreed to formalize the system. When a very large influx of Confederate soldiers captured at battles of Fort Henry and Fort Donelson would add an another 15,000 prisoners to the Union's rolls, there was a frantic search for places to confine them. Here is the quote of the day. By then, the camp had a prisoner population of 12,082. [10] Lincoln appointed Doty to the governorship shortly thereafter. The capacity of the camp was estimated at 6,000 prisoners. It was in use from Feb. 1862-June 1865. More than 7,000 prisoners were in the camp by September, many of them ill-clad and sick, with only one surgeon to care for them. An observatory tower was built just outside the prison gate for onlookers to look at the prisoners, for 10 cents per person. "Race, Repatriation, and Galvanized Rebels: Union Prisoners and the Exchange Question in Deep South Prison Camps,". 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.. Learn how your comment data is processed. Within the first few weeks of the camp's opening, the escape attempts began. For more information go to: Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window). We look at the Camp Douglas story as being told just about the miserable conditions that were faced by these prisoners of war, but there are wider stories to need to be expounded on, she says. Captured escapees were put in a place of close confinement, called the lockup cell. Steadily, illness and death began to increase among the men. [3], In 1862, with the ranks of the Union army swelled by more than 100,000 volunteers, the U.S. government believed it could now spare enough men to again occupy the Utah Territory. The only entry into the room was by a hatch about 20 sq. All the barracks were greatly in need of repair. Secrecy was certainly not the case during the war, though. The prison populations on both sides then soared. Civil War Prison Camps | American Battlefield Trust PDF Unit: The Civil War: Up Close and Personal Lesson Title: A Picture Oh I guess some of you still call it the Civil War. Camp Douglas (Chicago) - Wikipedia Records indicate the capture of 211,411Unionsoldiers, with 16,668paroledand30,218diedin captivity;of Confederate soldiers, 462,684 were captured, 247,769 paroledand25,976died in captivity. He was there until the end of the war and released in June of 1865. 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. By late 1864, the camp had a prisoner population of 12,082. Civil War Overview. 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. Civil War Series The Prison Camp at Andersonville The problems with obtaining lumber even affected sanitation at the prison camp. For those who had ancestors on the Confederate side, there can be a different version of what happened to their relatives taken as prisoners. (WBEZ/Logan Jaffe), When we first meet Chris, our Curious Citizen, its a bitterly cold day in late January and we stand on what Keller and others claim is the largest mass grave in the Western Hemisphere: a mound of roughly 4,000 Confederate soldiers who died at Camp Douglas, now buried at Oak Woods Cemetery at 67th Street and Cottage Grove. Camp Douglas Was One of the Deadliest Civil War Sites in Illinois Discussion - Camp Douglas | Civil War History Discussion [2], In October 1861, the First Transcontinental Telegraph was completed, with Salt Lake City being the last link. He installed some radical changes to prevent escapes. Each building was to hold 95 prisoners. Here is a booklet made digital by Archive.org published 1892 listing those from the prison buried in the Oakwoods Cemetery in Illinois. Many escape attempts were made by digging tunnels into the soft, swampy ground, but most came from bribing the guards. Like all Civil War prisons, Camp Douglas had a high mortality rate: one prisoner in seven died in Chicago. There was deep-rooted animosity toward the Confederate cause from the moment the war ended. That is when all the prison camps got a lot nastier, Karamanski says. In tribute to the six Illinois regiments that served in the War with Mexico, Illinois began . But for many Confederate prisoners of war, captured on far away battlefields, the camp was their final fighta struggle to survive cold weather, poor sanitation, and hunger rather than evading Union bullets. 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. If you had any Confederate ancestors, even if they were not from Georgia, you might want to look at the list. Many Southern prisons were located in regions with high disease rates, and were routinely short of medicine, doctors, food and ice. We werent even a state yet., The above was written by Meribah Knight for WBEZ 91.5 Chicago ~ March 11, 2015. From there, the Union Army would assemble regiments and brigades and ship soldiers by rail to the front lines. , a newspaper out of Bibb County, Georgia did a listing of known Confederate deaths, the soldiers name, and the regiment they were with. Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation. [9], In 1861, President Lincoln had appointed James Duane Doty to the position of Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Utah Territory. [10], About 56,000 soldiers died in prisons during the war, accounting for almost 10% of all Civil War fatalities. Although the Mormons were the majority of settlers in the Great Salt Lake basin, the western area of the territory began to attract many non-Mormon settlers. He ran the Griffin Funeral home at 32nd Street and Martin Luther King Drive right smack on the former camps site. Once he captured Confederate troops, they were only a steamboat and train ride away from Camp Douglas. Language links are at the top of the page across from the title. I. But it also reminds us what the Civil War was about, he says. Arnold-Scriber, Theresa and Scriber, Terry G. (2012). document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); One such prison was Camp Douglas, 80 acres in size, on the south side of Chicago, Illinois. 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. Creating and operating a repository for information, including artifacts, photos, letters, journals, and diaries. The people of Chicago were curios about the camp and its prisoners. Eventually, each barrack would hold an average of 189 prisoners, with the average camp population being around 12,000. The first group of 3,200 prisoners arrived at the camp on February 21. The floor was constantly damp, and an intolorable stench radiated from the sink in the corner of the room. American Civil War. In late 1864, many political prisoners from the surrounding counties were added to the camp upon the discovery of several plots to release prisoners. With nowhere else for the captured troops to go, Camp Douglas became a Union Army prisoner-of-war camp, and it stayed one for the duration of the war. 189190), Last edited on 30 November 2022, at 03:30, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Biographical Directory of the United States Congress", Map of the Territory and Military Department of Utah 1860, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Utah_Territory_in_the_American_Civil_War&oldid=1124711359, This page was last edited on 30 November 2022, at 03:30. In other words, it had been improvised, and wasnt meant to hold prisoners or last more than a couple years. When he submitted us this question about a year and a half ago, he says he was surprised at how difficult it was to find any information about Camp Douglas. The agreement also allowed the exchange of non-combatants, such as citizens accused of "disloyalty", and civilian employees of the military, and allowed the informal exchange or parole of captives between the commanders of the opposing forces. [9] On April 23, after the war ended, the riverboat Sultana was taking 1900 ex-prisoners North on the Mississippi River when it exploded, killing about 1500 of them. Davids Island was used from July 1863 to October 1863 as a temporary hospital for Confederate soldiers injured during the. He was a Southerner whose family owned her direct ancestor, Nero Cooper, a former slave who enlisted in the Unions African-American infantry. A fascinating Civil War Harper's Weekly with a story and Picture of Camp Douglas, Chicago Illinois : Camp Douglas . Still there was another mode, differing from all the others, but fully as harsh and severe, if not worse. Today, its Bronzeville. The Union Pacific broke ground in Omaha on December 2, 1863. But a bit of Googling led Chris to a name, Camp Douglas, and a location, Chicagos Bronzeville neighborhood. Some of the prisoners would just wander off and say Hey, lets go get a drink. Drunk and emaciated soldiers (still wearing their Confederate garb), would be picked up by local police and hauled, stumbling, back to the camp. of meat and a gill of beans or potatoes. When the camp was first opened, many escapes occured when a prisoner darkened his hands and face with charcoal or some other substance and walked out the front gate with other black prison laborers. What's in a Name? The Establishment of Camp Douglas (2001). Lacking means for dealing with large numbers of captured troops early in the American Civil War, the Union and Confederate governments both relied on the traditional European system of parole and exchange of prisoners. [5] In two meetings on February 23 and March 1, 1862, Union Major Gen. John E. Wool and Confederate Brig. Civil War Prisoner of War Records, 1861-1865 (Ancestry) ($) . Utah Territory in the American Civil War - Wikipedia In many ways, the story of Camp Douglas is the story of the Civil War itself. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. The camp is low and flat, rendering drainage imperfect. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Mississippi Inf. [1], Lorien Foote has noted, "the suffering of prisoners did more to inhibit postwar reconciliation than any other episode of the war."[2]. P.O. 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. He therefore opposed wholesale exchanges until the end was in sight. At the end of the Civil War, Camp Douglas closed, its buildings were demolished, and records were lost or destroyed. Just outside the kitchens, slop barrels were always kept for the purpose of depositing beef bones, and such other scraps and refuse as came from the kitchens; these would often remain until late in the afternoon without being removed and emptied. Futch, Ovid (1962). Union and Confederate forces exchanged prisoners sporadically, often as an act of humanity between opposing commanders. During the rest of the war, the fort served as the headquarters of the District of Utah in the Department of the Pacific. One of the guys mentioned that there was actually a prison camp in the actual city in Chicago, he says. Chicago's Forgotten Civil War Prison Camp | WBEZ Chicago 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.
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camp douglas civil war
