AUG351 said: Camp Douglas was one of the largest Northern POW camps during the war. [158] As the length of confinements increased due to the lack of prisoner exchanges, more fights between prisoners arose. [195] Prisoners had to risk being shot in order to gather snow, even beyond the dead line, for coffee and other uses. 24 3.9K views 9 years ago Featuring two Board members of the Camp Douglas Restoration Society and the author of "To Die In Chicago", a book written about what happened at Camp Douglas, a. Colonel Charles V. DeLand [175], He apparently gave up on the scheme as the Democratic convention in Chicago, which was supposed to provide volunteers and cover for execution of the plan, ended at the end of August. [169] On the other hand, Kelly wrote that Sweet seemed to believe the plot to be real. Brigadier General William W. Orme [195], On December 5, 1864, prisoners from Confederate General John Bell Hood's army, which had been shattered at the Battle of Franklin and the Battle of Nashville, began to arrive at Camp Douglas. [92] Because only two water hydrants were available to the prisoners, they had to wait in the cold for hours to get water. [81] A few prisoners were wounded or killed by guards who saw them step over the "dead line" near the boundaries of the camp or commit minor offenses, but such incidents occurred infrequently. [184] Sweet arrested five more members of the Sons of Liberty on November 14, including Richard T. Semmes. [132] On March 13, 1867, Congress confirmed the award to DeLand of the honorary grade of brevet brigadier general to rank from March 13, 1865. "Stonewall" Jackson at the Battle of Harpers Ferry, Virginia (later West Virginia) on September 15, 1862, were sent to Camp Douglas for temporary detention. [100], Prisoners who tried to escape were placed in White Oak Dungeon, an 18-square-foot (1.7m2) space under the guard room, which had only one small window and was permeated with an intolerable stench. At the beginning of his duty, Strong had only about 650 healthy men to guard almost 6,000 prisoners. [46][73] On February 2, 1863, General Ammen reported that many prisoners were too sick to endure conditions at the camp. Most were recaptured. [146], On May 2, 1864, the War Department appointed Colonel Sweet as commander of the camp. [178], Without a warrant, Sweet's men searched the home of Charles Walsh, leader of the "Sons of Liberty," who were sympathetic with the South, and discovered a cache of guns and ammunition. By the time the Civil War ended, more 52,000 prisoners had passed through Point Lookout, with upwards of 4,000 succumbing to various illnesses brought on by overcrowding, bad sanitation, exposure, and soiled water. Marjory Stoneman Douglas student David Hogg was caught lying about being on campus during a February 2018 school shooting when he told CBS that he had to get on his bicycle . [128], Thanks to another inspection of the camp by Dr. Clark on February 4, 1864, flooring was restored to the barracks. [19] White Oak Square included the original camp prison and the building that would become the infamous "White Oak Dungeon. More than 40,000 troops passed through the camp during its nearly four years in operation. Camp Douglas Investigation 2013 I: The Interviews - YouTube [15], The Union Army sent three tons of corn meal and large quantities of blankets, clothing, shoes and eating utensils to the camp on March 1, 1862. By the end of the war, 1 in 3 men imprisoned at Florencedied. [102] News of this developed into a scandal that carried over to the administration of the next camp commander. "[19] The "dungeon" was a room 18 square feet (1.7m2), lit by one closely barred window about 18-by-8-inch (460 by 200mm) off the floor, with entry only through a hatch about 20-inch (510mm) square in the ceiling. [103], DeLand was pressured to increase security but had several factors working against him: the layout of camp, guards from the Invalid Corps who were unable to perform efficiently, and the quartering of prisoners and guards together at White Oak Square. The barracks were so filthy and infested that the commission claimed, nothing but fire can cleanse them.". [149], Colonel Sweet reinstated Colonel Strong as commander of the garrison. [46], By April 27, 1863, the final death toll from this group of prisoners was 784. [115] DeLand confiscated warm coats, possibly to prevent escapes but as likely in retaliation for past escapes and attempts. Colonel Daniel Cameron [114], The Army ordered sutler stores at prison camps shut down on December 1, 1863, in retaliation for reported Confederate mistreatment of Union prisoners. Containing over 200 buildings on 60 acres, Camp Douglas was the most significant . A historic sheltered picnic area, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Crew, is also available for reservation. Of the more than 150 prisons established during the war, the following eightexamples illustrate the challenges facing the roughly 400,000 men who had been imprisoned by war's end. Hugh Wilson Alexander, my 5th great grand uncle, was in the 49th TN Co. Colonel Benjamin J. Lack of medical attention and food led many prisoners to a slow, painful death. In the summer of 1862, Henry Whitney Bellows, president of the U.S. Sanitary Commission,[55] wrote the following to Colonel Hoffman after visiting the camp: Sir, the amount of standing water, unpoliced grounds, of foul sinks, of unventilated and crowded barracks, of general disorder, of soil reeking miasmatic accretions, of rotten bones and emptying of camp kettles, is enough to drive a sanitarian to despair. 18,000 Confederates were incarcerated there by the end of the war. What's in a Name? The Establishment of Camp Douglas [30] In the event, the Illinois Central Railroad transported 4,459 of the Fort Donelson prisoners to Camp Douglas from Cairo, Illinois, where they had initially been sent. [122] On January 8, 1864, General Orme instituted a program of armed guard patrols. The Civil War's Deadliest POW Camp Claimed Thousands of American Lives [70] All the parolees left the camp by the end of that month except for Colonel Daniel Cameron and his 65th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment, who were held until April 19, 1863, and put to work as guards. What happened to it? [186], Sweet's main informer and agent, John T. Shanks, a Confederate prisoner who was a former Morgan's Raider and a convicted criminal, testified against the defendants. [116] Despite these harsh actions, DeLand also worked to free fifty underage prisoners who he discovered were between the ages of 14 and 17[117] The Army did not free them. [174] He soon found that he had only 25 untrained volunteers for the difficult mission. [107] After a successful tunneling escape on December 3, Colonel DeLand ordered all floors torn out of barracks, to be replaced by dirt even with the floor joist. [17] These troops mutinied on December 18, 1861, when the State of Illinois tried to press them into service as infantry upon completion of their work on Camp Douglas. Captain Henry Wirz, commandant at Andersonville, was executed as a war criminal for not providing adequate supplies and shelter for the prisoners. [102] Their subcontractors delivered poor quality rations directly to prisoners at Camp Douglas and not to the camp commissary. [46][72] About 1,500 poorly clothed and generally physically unfit Confederate prisoners arrived at the camp on January 26, 1863. His first task is to guide a team of unbroken oxen. One prisoner in seven died, for a total of 4,200 deaths by 1865. The room was full of rifles, shotguns, spears and a mountain of ammunition. This contained the hospitals and various quartermaster and other support facilities. What happened at Camp Douglas? [2] Convening in July 1861, Congress retroactively approved Lincoln's actions and authorized another one million three-year volunteers. [51] The police also confiscated five pistols and many bullets. [30], On February 18, 1862, Colonel Arno Voss took brief temporary command of the camp until Colonel Tucker returned from Springfield, Illinois, several days later. [117] DeLand was wounded four times in the battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, and Petersburg. [153] Sweet had the prisoners searched daily for contraband to be sure prisoners had no cash to bribe guards, but such hidden money was not found. The reader will be able to see the American . [83], General Ammen was ordered to Springfield to command the District of Illinois on April 13, 1863. [159][160] Work details were still required. [58], Conditions at the camp improved that summer as almost all the prisoners left by September 1862. It became a prisoner of war camp in 1862. I believe the documentary mentions a "standing order" of some sort to shoot black men in confederate uniform. Others suffered from harsh living conditions, severely cramped living quarters, outbreaks of disease, and sadistic treatment from guards and commandants. The document states that these bodies "cannot be traced further, except in numbers, thereby making the probable aggregate as roundly stated above [6,000]. [107] DeLand imposed the same punishment at least one more time. [212] Only sixteen prisoners then remained at the camp hospital. [46], President Lincoln's brother-in-law, Ninian Wirt Edwards, a Union Army captain, contracted with vendors to supply meat and other rations to military camps. Union camp leadership was largely to blame for the death toll. Keller has gone at the matter of what happened at Camp Douglas with a spirit for uncovering the truth, no more. Group Captain Sir Douglas Robert Steuart Bader, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, DL, FRAeS ( / bdr /; 21 February 1910 - 5 September 1982) was a Royal Air Force flying ace during the Second World War. As a result, the Rebels spent their winters shivering in biting cold and their summers in sweltering, pathogen-laden heat. [158][123] Guards punished anyone caught taking bones from the garbage by tying the bone in the prisoner's mouth and making him crawl around like a dog. [140] Three men spent a night there for climbing a roof to watch horse racing. Douglas Fir Campground, Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest At its peak, over 20,000 Confederate soldiers occupied Point Lookout at any given time, more than double its intended occupancy. [24] According to George Levy's 1999 history of the camp, a total of about 40,000 Union Army recruits passed through the camp for outfitting and training before the facility was permanently converted to a prisoner-of-war camp. Welcome to CivilWarTalk, a forum about the American Civil War!- Join today!It's fast, simple, and FREE! When the prisoner cartel had been operating, many prisoners could expect to be exchanged within a few months. 56,000 men died in prison camps over the course of the war, accounting for roughly 10% of the war's total death toll and exceeding American combat losses in World War I, Korea, and Vietnam. Based south of the city on the prairie, it was also used as a training and detention camp for Union soldiers. [75] This was the highest mortality rate in any Civil War prison camp for any month of the war. Neither the Army nor the War Department made any immediate improvements at the camp. [109][123] General Orme obtained some Union army overcoats outside of channels and distributed them to prisoners. What did the Sanitary Commission say about Camp Douglas? [201] Although censored, mail was sent and delivered faithfully, even to and from prisoners in the dungeon. Mississippi Inf. [124] Cooking was deficient and garbage littered the streets. [93] The rundown buildings provided inadequate shelter. [95], DeLand put infantry prisoners to work building a new sewer system for the camp. Elmira Prison, also known as "Hellmira," opened in July of 1864. The American Battlefield Trust and our members have saved more than 56,000 acres in 25 states! Early life [46] Conditions at the camp deteriorated with the overcrowding[15] and escapes increased. [155] No prisoners were killed in the incident. In the early months of the camp's existence, the conditions inside Salisbury were quite good, relatively speaking. [140] Some prisoners received this punishment for reneging on a request to take the oath of allegiance to the United States. In the summer and fall of 1865, the camp served as a mustering out point for Union Army volunteer regiments. [212] On July 5, 1865, the guards were withdrawn from the camp. [208] Despite the imminent end of the war, a few instances of cruelty by guards were reported even after this date. [59] All prisoners who were not too ill to travel were exchanged due to implementation of the July 22, 1862 DixHill prisoner cartel between the Union and Confederate armies. Camp Douglas in Chicago opened in 1861 as a Union training and reception facility for over 40,000 Union soldiers. Confederate Prisoner of War Records FamilySearch Join us online July 24-26! [124] Old sinks (latrines) were not sealed properly and waste was seeping to the surface. Because of the poor sanitation and the overcrowding in the prison, over 70,000 Confederate soldiers suffered diseases such as smallpox, malaria, diarrhea, scurvy, and rheumatism; 4,009 of the soldiers died from the diseases (Levy, pg. [39] Between June 14 and June 19, 1862, Colonel Daniel Cameron, Jr. was in charge.
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